


Glass Curtain

by rdyfrde



Category: Sonata Arctica
Genre: Assassination, Biffno, M/M, Spying, Undercover Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-05-28 17:22:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 20
Words: 111,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15054113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rdyfrde/pseuds/rdyfrde
Summary: Elias Viljanen is a criminal, languishing away in prison with no end in sight. That is until one night changes his life in an instant with a daring breakout. Will he survive his new life or will he end up dead like the rest?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my 2017 Biffno inspired by the 90's TV show La Femme Nikita. It's not completely like it, mind you, but definitely has some familiar twists to the premise. 
> 
> There is some non-con in this, but it's only for a few chapters. Either way, this is a warning for that.
> 
> Thanks to Lia for the encouragement along the way :)

The bluish glow of the tablet reflected off his face as he swiped through countless photos of men.

They ranged from young kids who hadn't learned to shave to hardened adults who wore the scars of their past on their weathered faces.

All of them had one thing in common - they were going to be chosen.

He just had to pick one.

A man, decked out all in black clothes, approached him. "Your orders, sir?"

He let a sigh escape from his beard framed lips. Time was of the essence, any delay could mean failure, and that was unacceptable.

The man shuffled his feet, inpatient for the orders.

With a last flick of his finger on the screen, he stopped on the final face and cocked his head to the side. He might have finally found what was he was looking for. He tapped the details of the man's history and nodded.

He glanced up at the waiting man. "This is the man. We leave tonight. Get the van ready."

The man took the pad and walked away to get the items needed for the mission.

He looked up at the windows above. His supervisor, a man who wore the blackest of suits with flaming red hair, stared down at him. Cold blue eyes studied him until he turned away to walk toward his room.

The less he thought about their leader the better.

Besides, he had a mission to do.

*********

Elias laid back in his tiny cot to stare up at the concrete ceiling. He couldn't stop thinking of how much time he had left on his sentence.

Five more years of prison time loomed over his head for him to serve.

He shook his head, remembering when they convicted him a year ago. They'd charged him with terrorism for blowing up an office building and another charge of murder later.

The thing was, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That and he knew the men who did the crime. They had been his friends many years ago and made him the fall guy.

He should have ignored their urgent call, not gone down to the building as they asked him to, and not been caught by cops on the scene afterward. His life, such as it was at the time, would have been better for it.

Never having to enduring other inmates trying to rape him in the showers, never having to fend for himself with rudimentary fighting when he first arrived, never having to be forced to side with certain inmates or risk being cut to pieces with handmade shivs.

Elias' jaw clenched to fight back the tears that tried to fall. He didn't want them to know they had broken him, even just a little. He wasn't going down like that.

It was then that his cell door swung open with a bang.

Elias sat up with a start, his heart pounding hard in his chest. He waited for a guard or the warden to walk inside but no one did.

He slid off his cot with little noise, crouching close to the cold concrete floor. The less he alerted whoever had opened the cell door the better. 

A few minutes passed and nothing happened. The door was still open but the prison was eerily silent.

Elias swallowed hard and inched toward the open door. There's no way he'd be able to escape like this, but maybe he could hide out somewhere for a while. Anything was better than cooped up in a meager cell.

As soon as he stepped outside, strong arms grabbed him from behind and held him in a headlock.

A hushed voice spoke in his ear, "Don't make a sound or I will snap your neck like a twig."

Elias tried to break free, realizing his attacker was shorter than he was from the angle they held him in place.

The grip tightened more, forcing Elias' eyes to blink fast from the slowly depleting oxygen coming in. "I'm not going to tell you again. I will do it and no one will miss your sorry ass for it."

Elias stopped struggling.

"Good, now come with me. We don't have much time."

Once the grip loosened, Elias spun around intent on fighting back. That is until a handgun was jabbed into the space between his ribs. He looked down at it.

"Don't push me. I can easily replace you with someone else if it comes to that."

Elias tried to get a look at the man who released him, but he wore a black mask covering everything except his dark eyes.

The man shoved Elias forward, the gun pointing at his back now, walking away from his cell to the other side of the prison.

Elias kept looking back to see if the guards would see them. Surely, there had to be some nearby patrolling the hallways.

"They've been knocked out," said the man, as if reading Elias' mind.

Elias frowned at that statement. There were over hundred guards in this prison. How did one man take out all of them at once?

And yet, they didn't encounter anyone during the slow walk.

The man reached out to halt Elias' movement and motioned him to the heavy metal door that led to the guards' area.

Elias shook his head. "If I go in there, I'm dead."

"You're dead if you don't go in there. I'll see to that."

Elias reached out for the door, half expecting to find it locked, but it opened with little effort. He winced at the harsh light and moved forward, only to stumble over something. He looked down and gaped.

"Told you, we took care of them. Now keep moving to the next door."

Elias looked at the bodies strewn over the ground, sidestepping their outstretched hands and legs. "Did you gas them?"

The man behind didn't respond.

Elias turned a little to see if he was still there and got a jab in his side for a response. "Not much of a talker, are you?"

The man pushed the gun harder into Elias' ribs and said, "Keep moving."

He stopped short in front of a big hulking man with a bald head and goatee. Elias spat on the man's body and smashed his shoe into his face.

The man snorted. "A favorite of yours?"

"Asshole forced me to suck his cock when I first arrived a year ago. Now I get to return the favor."

The man cocked his head to the side. "Or you could just shoot him? Then he won't hurt anyone else."

Elias shook his head. "I don't kill people, even scum like him."

"You will in time."

*********

Once they stepped outside of the prison, Elias tried to get back inside when he spotted the warden in front. "Shit, get back inside!"

The man pushed Elias back. "He knows already."

Elias walked down the stairs to stop in front of the warden, who was almost as big as the guard he assaulted inside but with a buzz cut. "You let this happen?"

The warden scoffed at Elias while addressing the man in black, "Why would you want a scrawny bomber? He's not much use to anyone."

The man shrugged. "I have my reasons, the why is not important."

The warden glared at the man before turning back to Elias. "Usually I would smack your head from asking such a thing, but since you're leaving it doesn't matter anymore. Yes, I allow it to happen occasionally."

Elias shook his head. "Why? Who are they?"

The warden laughed at Elias' confused face, shaking his massive gut in the process. "I do what I'm told, just like you will with them. If they want to break out some insignificant pissant like yourself, then so be it. One less idiot in my care."

The man in black dragged Elias back. "Come on."

The warden called out, "You better not have messed with anything in there."

Elias froze in place, wondering if the man would squeal on him.

The man motioned to Elias. "He said his goodbyes, nothing more."

Before the warden had the chance to respond, the man shoved Elias into a black van waiting by the curbside.

*********

Elias looked at the chubby man with a goatee and curly brown hair sitting opposite him.

The man grinned. "Welcome, name's Henkka. I handle the weapons and gear."

The man in black handed his gun over to Henkka and removed his mask. "This isn't a social visit.

Elias stared at the revealed face. Even under the van's low lights, he could make out a dark beard circling around the reddest lips he'd ever seen. 

The man caught him staring and rolled his eyes. "Quit staring at me."

Henkka laughed, nodding at the man. "That's Tony, he of the serious disposition. Really he just likes to torture newbies with it."

Tony glared at Elias. "That's Kakko to you. Don't ever let me catch you calling me Tony or it will be the last thing you ever do."

Elias looked over at Henkka. "Is he always this much of a pain in the ass?"

Henkka was about to open his mouth but a glare from Tony silenced him.

Tony leaned over to talk in Elias' face. "Look, this isn't some high school trip. You've been selected to train up on martial arts and assist with missions. It will be hard and quite frankly I don't think you'll succeed. You've never fought back from what the prison reports that I've seen have said. Maybe I've chosen someone too soft."

Elias' hands clenched into fists. "I've fought back plenty but they don't give a shit if I do. They turn a blind eye to everything that happens unless you get a shiv in the gut."

"Spare me the sob stories, I'm not interested."

Elias sneered at Tony. "You wouldn't last a day in prison, Kakko. Anyone in there could have easily taken you."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "What makes you think I haven't been there before? And for the record, you let me."

"Because you had a gun in my side!"

Tony sat back in his seat. "There's no need to shout, I'm right here. Also having a gun on you is not the end of the line. Had our roles been reversed, you wouldn't have the gun more than a few seconds before I took you out. There's always an escape, even if your arms and legs are bound."

Elias laughed at Tony. "You're putting me on. No one can dodge a bullet."

Henkka grinned from the other side but said nothing.

Tony saw it before turning back to Elias. "If you're well enough trained, you can dodge anything. The thing you need to learn is reining in your emotions."

Elias crossed his arms over his chest. "And be like you? I'll pass."

"You don't have a choice in the matter."

*********

The van stopped in front of a small aluminum roofed building.

Elias got out with Tony and Henkka, staring at it in confusion. "This is your headquarters?"

Tony said behind him, "No, it's the decontamination building."

Two men came out of the heavy metal door in the front dressed all in black. They stopped in front of Tony.

Tony motioned to Elias. "Take him to be thoroughly searched and washed."

Elias balked at that remark. "Searched for what?"

Tony didn't respond to Elias and instead nodded to the men.

Each one grabbed one of Elias' arms and hauled him away.

Elias called out, "Searched for what?"

Tony turned to Henkka. "Let's go."

They got back in the van and drove away amid Elias' screams.

*********

Tony and Henkka walked into a metal structure situated in the middle of nowhere. 

Henkka lugged the gear to his area in the left side of the open floor plan. 

Metal railing and lookouts surrounded the second level of the building along with their leader's office. Tony glanced up at the glass windows that usually held his leader's face looking out. It was empty, as Tony expected, but at this point it became habit to look anyway.

Tony headed to the right, bypassing an open area for their martial arts training and workout equipment until he reached a small office. He headed inside, closing the door and tapping a code into the number pad on the wall.

With a sigh, he moved over to his small desk with a docked laptop sitting on it. He booted the computer up and pulled up security cameras for the decontamination building.

He flicked through the various outdoor cameras until he got to the cameras inside the showers.

Elias' form popped up on the screen. Even though he couldn't hear what they said, the images were enough to know what was going on. Through the bonds, Elias struggled and screamed out under the hot water and from the hands exploring every inch of his body.

Tony sat back, his eyes taking in the long scars on Elias' back as he was pushed to face the tiled walls. From the age of the scars, they were several years old and not inside prison as Tony assumed they might be.

Elias leaned on the wall for support and screamed, the fingers of the techs beginning to push inside of him.

Tony closed the security cam footage, remembering to when he first arrived so many years ago. The hands were relentless to find anything hidden on his body, so much that he was sore for a week afterward.

Some things never change.

********

Tony was entering something into his laptop when a knock sounded on his door. He got up from his simple desk and punched a code into the number pad. 

The door opened to reveal a man dressed in black and a disheveled Elias glaring at him. He nodded at the man, who dragged Elias inside Tony's office and shoved him down into a chair. The man exited and Tony closed the door, again entering a code into the number pad.

Elias scrambled out of the chair intent on going for Tony. He saw it out of the corner of his eye and reacted, shoving Elias to the ground into a heap with one punch.

Tony wandered over to sit at his desk again. "What did I tell you about controlling your emotions? Actions like these will get you killed."

Elias pawed at his chest, trying to gasp for a breath.

Tony sat back in his chair, eying Elias with distaste. "When you're done, we need to talk about your situation."

With a deep breath, Elias stumbled to his feet and slumped in the chair. "How...how the hell did you do that? I didn't even see it."

"As it was intended. I meant what I said in the van. If you're successful, you will be able to defend yourself from anything. Including emotionally charged former prisoners."

Elias scoffed. "Yeah and I bet you were perfect when you arrived, assuming you weren't born here."

"Are you done? Or should we actually continue with what I brought you here for?"

Elias folded his arms over his chest. "And what happens if I don't do what you ask of me?"

"You'll be killed."

Elias stared at Tony. "Just like that?"

Tony typed a few things into his laptop to bring up some files. "Correct. They don't tolerate anything but the best. Though first we need to get you up to speed. This will require martial arts and weapons training for several months. After that is mission training and eventually if you're good enough field work."

Elias shook his head. "Field work for what? Are you some sort of spy school?"

Tony's eyebrow rose.

Elias rolled his eyes at it. "So what, I do this for a few years instead of my prison sentence and then I'm out?"

"Your prison sentence has been eliminated. In fact, from this moment on your past life is gone. You were never born, never lived or died. You are nothing right now."

"What about my family?"

"What family? You have no brothers or sisters and your parents are dead. You don't exist, Elias Viljanen, except for in our world. If you want to continue to exist, you will complete the required training. I expect you to fully comply and excel in everything."

Elias laughed at the seriousness in Tony's voice. "You sure put a lot of hope in me. What if I just decide to not do what you ask of me?"

"I already told you - you'll be killed. They always weed out the weak in favor of the strong recruits. Besides, don't you want to take me on after training up? Have a chance to beat the shit out of me as you tried to earlier? If anything, it's something to live for instead of laying down and dying like a coward."

Elias' face twisted in anger.

Tony got up from his desk to stand in front of Elias' chair. "I see I've motivated you."

Elias left his chair to stand with his chest pressed against Tony's. "I can't wait to beat the fuck out of you, wipe that smug look off your face once and for all."

"That concludes our meeting. I will be monitoring your progress, and if necessary point out things to work on. Whether you like me or not, I want you to succeed. If anything to prove those assholes who beat you down in prison that you're stronger than they are."

Elias looked into Tony's brown eyes. "Why do you even care? I'm some insignificant recruit to you."

Tony tapped the code into the number pad. "I have my reasons."

The door opened and the man in black from before was waiting outside.

Tony motioned at Elias. "Give him a room and some clothes. Tomorrow morning he'll begin training with Marko."

**********

After Elias left and he locked the door, Tony went back to his desk to type into his laptop. He tabbed through various cameras around the facility to find the cameras on Elias as he walked into the crew quarters.

They consisted of tiny rooms with a twin bed in each. No shelves, no books, no music. Just brilliant white painted walls and a bed. Clothes dropped off each morning, taking the old clothes for washing or disposal depending on their state of wear.

Since Tony was the head supervisor of the recruits, he had his own room further away near their leader's. He had his own dresser filled with black clothes and shoes. Beyond that, his room looked the same as Elias'.

Tony could remember the day he finally moved out of the general quarters and into his current room. He didn't have to listen to recruits bitching about the quality of the food or clothes. Plus, it was safer that he wasn't among those he would be supervising over.

All he needed was some crazed recruit trying to kill him while he slept, assuming he would be tired enough to sleep that hard.

As it is, most of his days were in his office watching those under him via the cameras or training classes. Sleep offered nothing in the long run, other than to take away precious hours he could be doing something else. There was always missions to plot out and run, meetings to be had with their leader, and working out to maintain his reflexes.

Never mind the fact that when he did sleep, it was never restful. Too much of his past came back to him when he was prone like that, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

Why couldn't they just leave him alone? Why make his life more miserable than it already was?

Tony got up from his desk.

He needed to take his mind off things.

**********

Tony headed for the workout area. No one would be around this late at night, just like Tony wanted it. Being alone was fine with him and sought it out whenever he had the chance. It was a time to prepare for the next day's events and to clear his head from tonight's.

His mind drifted to Elias immediately as he wandered over to the treadmills. He tapped the machine to life and chose one of the more difficult running programs. With a sigh, he started to run on it.

"You should be sleeping right now."

Tony ignored the voice to his right and kept running on the treadmill.

"Ignoring it is slowly ruining you."

Tony glanced over at the source of the voice, a man with short cropped hair and watery blue eyes. "You should be as well. Viljanen begins his training with you tomorrow."

Marko folded his arms across his black tank top. "I will be, but I'm making sure you do as well. I shouldn't have to tell you this every night."

Tony bit his lip, continuing to run fast on the treadmill.

Marko approached the treadmill. "I see, it's still happening isn't it?"

Tony exhaled, trying to keep his emotions in check as to not set off his asthma.

"You know, talking about it does help you process it. I know you're not the most open person here, but I'm just putting it out there."

"There's nothing to talk about. I will deal with it in time. Don't concern yourself with it."

Marko reached out to touch Tony's arm. "I mean it, Tony. You may not see it, but I do. It's slowly eating away at you."

Tony shook off Marko's hand and switched off the machine. "I guess I'm not going to get any peace tonight."

Marko tried to grab Tony's arm as he walked by, but he dodged it. Instead, he sighed while watching Tony head for the senior crew quarters.

*********

A man in black clothes dragged Elias to the workout area. He had been in the middle of an intense dream when they pulled him out of bed protesting. 

They shoved clothes at him, telling him to get dressed in a few minutes or risk practicing naked.

In all of his life, he'd never dressed that fast.

Now he stood beside eight other students who looked equally bewildered as Elias did.

A man with short buzzed hair and a faint beard eyed them all with distaste. "Good morning!"

Elias winced along with the rest of them.

The man laughed and motioned to himself. "Name's Marko and I'll be your instructor in weaponless combat." He stopped to circle around the recruits. "You will learn every manner of defending yourself against any attackers. Whether they be armed with weapons or bigger than you are. You will know how to react to any situation."

A blond recruit winced when Marko stopped in front of him.

Marko laughed at him. "You will learn to anticipate every movement from your opponent, including sudden movement. Every action has a reaction and you will all learn them or die trying."

Elias stood up straight, remembering back to his time in prison and not wanting to get any attention.

Marko rose an eyebrow at it, wandering over to stand in front of Elias. "Do not do what his man is doing. Your body should be fluid like water and not stiff as a board." Marko reached out, striking with his hand so fast that no one saw it. Elias tumbled to the ground. "Doing this will leave you off balance and venerable for an attack. I will teach you this over time."

Elias scrambled back up to his feet and made a movement at Marko, to which he dodged and Elias fell to the ground again.

Marko laughed at Elias but turned back to the recruits with a serious face. "Never attack in anger. Emotions should never get the best of you or you will die in the field. I will teach you how to keep your emotions in check by using them back at your opponent instead of acting foolishly like Viljanen is doing."

Elias grumbled under his breath and went back to standing with the other recruits. They all snickered at his actions, which made it that much worse than Marko humiliating him.

*********

Tony climbed the stairs to the second floor, bypassing the leader's office to stand against the railing to watch the training area. He looked down at Marko's class, seeing Elias struggle to defend himself with the other recruits. 

Some had been here for months and had more training than Elias, but were still behind to where Marko and Tony wanted them to be. Most were eliminated and replaced with newer recruits if they didn't improve. There was no quarter given to those who didn't put in the effort.

Elias dodged a shot to his chest, toppling the other recruit to the ground with a leg sweep move.

Tony's eyebrow rose, wondering where Elias had learned such a thing. Maybe he'd seen someone do it in prison and remembered it or just improvised after being sent to the ground so much.

Marko came over to Elias and his sparring partner to assess their progress. "What the hell was that, Viljanen?"

"I figured it was appropriate since he was lunging as he took a run at me."

Marko nodded. "Good." He glanced up at Tony and smiled.

Tony didn't return the smile. One little move wasn't going to teach Elias to be better. Though it was a step in the right direction.

The sparring partners stopped to turn back to Marko. He grabbed a blond recruit Tony had brought in a few months ago and put him in front of the class. "The object of self-defense is to wait for your opponent to make the first move. Andersson, come at me."

Andersson froze in place.

"I said, come at me!"

Andersson backed away from Marko.

Marko glanced up at Tony.

Tony sighed at the look, knowing Andersson was good as dead now. He moved away from the railing.

*********

Elias rubbed at his sore arms and headed over to Henkka's domain. He looked down at the various weapons on the table and wondered if anyone would notice if he swiped one to get out of this hell.

"Don't even think about it."

Elias froze at the sound of Henkka's serious voice.

Henkka laughed at Elias' scared face and grabbed some of the weapons off the table. "There's only one way out of here - you die. Other than that, you're stuck with us."

Elias followed Henkka into his stock room filled with clear boxes of gear along the walls. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

Henkka stowed away two handguns. "Because every recruit does. You wouldn't be human if you didn't."

"Kakko probably isn't. That asshole is like a cyborg or something."

Henkka closed the bin. "Tony is complicated. You just hate him because he took you from prison, as all recruits do. It will pass in time and eventually you'll trust Tony with your life in the field."

Elias moved out of the storage area. "That will never happen. I'd rather kill him than have him protect me from harm. He needs to be taken down a peg."

Henkka picked up more weapons from the table. "Suit yourself, but I'd rather have Tony than anyone else. There is no one better than him nor will there ever be later."

"What about Marko?"

Henkka paused, taking the clips out of the automatic rifles and placing them inside another bin. "Make is good as well, but not as good as Tony. He has an emotional weakness, despite what he preaches in class. If anyone found out about it, it would make him weak. Tony, on the other hand, has no weakness. He's the perfect soldier."

"Yeah well, not for long. I intend to take him down once I train up. It's the only thing driving me at this point."

"Well, it's something at least. Just don't let revenge ruin your life too much. A goal to beat Tony is fine, but you will have to trust him. At least to get you out of dangerous situations when you're trapped."

*********

Tony entered their leader's room, featuring a large window behind a black desk in the middle. He stood in front of the desk, ignoring the uncomfortable plastic chairs in front of it.

Their leader, who didn't really have a specific name known to Tony, sat back in his large black leather chair. He studied Tony's body language for a time that made Tony wonder if he was somehow sizing him up or maybe just waiting for Tony to act.

As Marko always preached to any of his students, let the opponent make the first move. By making the first move, you open yourself up to attack and thereby lessening your chance to succeed.

Sadly, it never worked for Tony with their leader. Their leader would wait forever if need be because he too knows the wisdom of waiting for Tony to act. This became a human version of a chess game, waiting for the moment to act or conceding in defeat and acting first.

Either way, both waited until a time just before patience started to waver and anger started to build.

As it was, the leader spoke first.

"How is the new recruit Viljanen progressing?"

Tony took a deep breath and spoke, thankful for the break in the long silence. "He is progressing with training. Marko has noted that he is learning it fast."

"Good, he will take over for those who need to be weeded out. Speaking of those in need of weeding out, Andersson is not learning fast enough. He's fallen behind others who have been here less time than he has. He will need to be eliminated."

Tony nodded, knowing it was coming. His own eyes could see it for the past month without the leader needing to tell him.

"You will carry this out."

Tony blinked, confused by that statement. Surely, he meant their cancellation team would do the job.

The leader's eyebrow rose.

Tony noticed it, a sure sign that he was taking too long to respond.

"Do I need to repeat it?"

Tony ignored the growing unrest inside. "No, but I am a little confused. The cancellation team is suited for this type of thing, as they have been for as long as I've been here."

"That is correct and normally I would send Andersson to them, but I want you to do it. Think of it as a test of your loyalty to the cause."

Tony's jaw clenched, the idea of killing someone that was under him was not an act he wanted to take on.

"I want it carried out tonight. That way Paasikoski doesn't have to waste his time and effort on a recruit who refuses to obey. Obeying leads to loyalty, while refusal leads to chaos."

Tony unclenched his jaw and pushed his emotions further to the side. "Very well. I will do it after this meeting.

The leader smiled, his gleaming white teeth flashing in triumph.

Tony turned around, thinking about how he'd handle such a thing, and was about to leave when the leader called out.

"Take him to a cancellation room for easy cleanup. I expect you to obtain him without others seeing him. The last thing we need is an uprising from the recruits."

Tony nodded but said nothing in response.

There was nothing to say this point, other than to carry out the mission.

*********

Thankfully, Andersson's room was on the far end of the crew quarters. This ensured that other recruits wouldn't get wind of what might be happening. Though tomorrow morning they would know full well what had occurred. 

Tony would have to deal with such things as he had in the past, but it wasn't a position he liked to relish.

As soon as he entered Andersson's room, Tony realized right away that Andersson knew it was time.

The blond recruit sat on his bed, looking toward the door and thereby at Tony as he walked in. He said, "It's time, then?"

Tony advanced over to the bed to stand in front of him. "Yes."

"I can't say that I'm surprised. I've been waiting for it to happen for months now. I just want this to be over, to be free of this tyrannical dominion."

"You'll never be free, even in death. Not to mention this is the coward's way out. You don't have to like what you do here or even like what others do, but it's a roof over your head free of prisoners beating you up on a daily basis."

Andersson scoffed. "I'd take that over this. This ridiculous way of living, waiting for death to occur or taking another's life. What kind of life is that?"

"No life is perfect, not even mine. The key is to keep living so maybe you can find that perfect moment to keep you going."

Andersson leaned back and laughed. "You really think that such a thing exists? You're a fool."

Tony pulled Andersson to his feet. "Maybe, but it keeps me from taking my own life over existing to see if it occurs."

Andersson walked with Tony to the far end of the building. There it held the soundproof rooms of nauseating pink and yellow colored walls. Tony always wondering why they painted them such absurd colors but never got a straight answer. The cancellation team, consisting of two people, always ignored his requests for answers. In fact, they never really spoke to Tony at all, giving him nods when he dropped off a recruit or prisoner for elimination.

They stopped at a room with the heavy metal door wide open, signaling that it was unoccupied by one of the cancellation team.

Andersson walked inside and turned around, expecting Tony to leave him in there to wait for his inevitable fate. Instead, he blinked in confusion when Tony tapped into the control panel and the heavy door closed to seal them in.

With a sigh, Tony turned around.

Andersson gaped when Tony pulled out a handgun. "Wait, you're not supposed to do this."

Tony held the gun up to aim at Andersson's head. "True, but it's my job tonight. Goodbye, Andersson."

"Wait a minute, why isn't the normal team doing this? Why do you have to do this?"

Tony cocked the bullet into the chamber. "It's my job to carry out missions, even if I don't like them. That's what you do when your leader gives you an order. Unlike you, I follow my orders."

Andersson moved to be in front of Tony, causing him to readjust the angle of his aim. "No, I want to be canceled by the other team. I don't want this!"

"You don't have a choice. You've made your bed and now you must lie in it."

Andersson opened his mouth to protest further, the words cut off with a single gunshot. The sound of it made a louder than normal bang in the confined space, reverberating for a bit before dying out.

Tony watched Andersson's lifeless body dropped to the ground, the stain of blood and pieces of brain covered that part of the pink wall. He turned to tap out the code to open the door.

It swung open to reveal two men dressed in black with cleaning gear. How they even knew Tony had killed someone was unknown, but they always showed up shortly after.

Tony walked out of the room, turning one last time to see the two men shove Andersson's lifeless body into a black bag for incineration in the basement. He commented on the situation under his breath, "You fool."

*********

Tony climbed the stairs to their leader's room, dreading other things he had in store for Tony. He hoped he wasn't replacing the cancellation team again.

He shuffled inside the office and frowned.

No one was inside.

Tony headed out to walk toward the railing, thinking that maybe the leader was looking over the area. Not that he'd have much to look at. Everyone was in their quarters or planning missions in the briefing rooms.

He stopped short when he spotted the leader looking toward the left side where the cancellation rooms would be.

The leader never glanced at him, but still knew he was there. "I hear you were successful with Andersson's cancellation."

"Yes, it was successful."

The leader turned to fix his cold blue eyes on Tony. "I don't need to give you a reason for why you had to do that, but since a change in staffing has occurred I feel the need to. The fact of the matter is Andersson was involved with the female member of the cancellation team. From talking with several people including the male half of the team, it was confirmed that she promised Andersson that she would get him out if he was sent to her for cancellation."

Tony blinked in confusion. "Why would he think such a thing is possible? She has no access to the outside world."

"I believe he was not thinking with his brain and more to do with what's in his pants. Either way, I couldn't let either of the cancellation team take care of Andersson as he hoped. From the video footage I saw of your task, it appeared that Andersson was surprised you were taking care of it."

"Yes, he was desperate for me to call the cancellation team. Now I know why he was like that, but it was very odd at the time."

"Indeed. Regardless, the cancellation team is now one person. I haven't decided to assign another, as none of the recruits we have are suitable for the job. For now, I'll let it play out and see what happens."

**********

Tony headed to the workout area to clear his confused mind. 

On one side, a defeated man who waited for death. On the other, a man seeking hope of getting out by possibly pretending to be defeated to get sympathy.

The problem is, which one was real?

Tony got on the treadmill and punched a few buttons to bring to life.

Why would someone go to such lengths of convincing others that he was scared and useless in combat? Why put faith in one person that you were in a relationship with? That's a lot of power in someone else's hands. They could respect your wishes or corrupt and go against them.

Had the female cancellation member lived long enough for Tony to question her, he wouldn't be fixating on such things.

They were done and over. Nothing can change the past, nor should you. The past is who you are, whether you like it or not.

Tony started running faster on the treadmill. He was thinking too much about a dead man with foolish goals. It was a waste of his time and the sooner he forgot about it the better.

For a while, the only sounds in the room were Tony's harsh breath as he pushed himself to go faster and the stomping of his feet on the treadmill.

And then he heard it.

Tony peered around the deserted room. He could hear voices, faint and at a distance but voices nevertheless. "Make?"

Thinking maybe Marko was hanging around again to give him another lecture about not sleeping enough.

But nothing answered his question.

Then the voices got louder.

From faint whispers to soft-spoken words. He couldn't make out what they were saying still but they were getting closer to his position.

Tony gasped for a breath, jumping off the treadmill and searching around the room. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Still nothing answered but the voices got louder still, now taking on the qualities of regular levels of talking. As if they were talking right beside Tony.

Tony whipped around to face each side, his handgun drawn and aiming in all directions. "Who are you?"

The voices got so loud they brought Tony down to his knees, toppling the gun to the ground in the process. He reached to cover his ears, the noise now unbearable for him to listen to anymore.

Tony screamed out, "Leave me alone!"

And then it all stopped.

Tony stumbled to his feet, his body shaking with a fear he hadn't felt in a long time. He gulped in air, trying to calm the out of control asthma taking over his lungs, and retrieved his gun from the floor.

His legs staggered out of the workout area towards his room. He had no idea if they would carry him far enough, but he silently hoped his leader didn't see such a thing.

To show weakness in this organization meant instant death.

That was the last thing he needed.

*********


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias is thrust into a world he's never known. It doesn't help matters his emotionless supervisor is pushing all of the right buttons, making him act out and jeopardize his life in the process.

Elias woke up with a start, gasping for a breath at the intense dream he was just involved in. He shook his long brown hair, brushing against the pillow and squeezed his eyes shut to stop the tears from forming.

The dream took him back to a past he didn't want to admit had ever happened. It should be gone out of his memory like the events that led up to it.

Just a wisp of a memory long buried away.

Elias bit his lip, the raw emotions from it ripping at him again. He had to get back to where he was in prison, moving on to the next life such as it was. Hiding the emotions and memories away like an old book buried inside a library of books.

He didn't want anyone like Tony or even Marko to see this crack in his demeanor, finding a way to exploit it as they saw fit. He wasn't going to let that happen.

Elias rolled onto his side and curled up tight.

It might take everything inside to defeat this but he was willing to take that chance.

Weakness was a fault here and anyone who showed it became ostracized for life.

*********

Tony approached Marko before his class started and pulled him to the side so no one would overhear them. "Andersson was eliminated last night."

"Somehow I'm not surprised by that. Did you figure out why he was so determined to fail so spectacularly?"

Tony hesitated to tell Marko what he knew, but at this point it didn't really matter. Marko was bound to find out later from someone else like Henkka. "Apparently the female half of the cancellation team promised to get him out in exchange for sexual favors and to fail enough to get sent to her for execution."

Marko stared at Tony. "Seriously? What kind of idiot would believe such a thing? I get there's not much in the way of women here and he probably wanted to get laid, but to take such a chance? He had to know they would figure out what was happening."

"Exactly. It's not a foolproof plan when you're relying on someone who kills people for a living to hold up their part of the bargain. And even then, you risk the leader or the male half of the duo figuring it out. In fact, he's the one who ratted her out."

"Doesn't surprise me in the slightest. That guy has always been a bit egotistical for my liking. You can bet he waited until she made Andersson a promise he couldn't refuse before telling the leader about it, just to look good in the leader's eyes. Never mind the fact that it's known he tortures the hell out of people before killing them because he can. I assume he took her out?"

"Yes, an hour before I took out Andersson. It's not the kind of job I relish, but now I can see why the leader asked it. Andersson was angry I didn't call the cancellation team."

Marko started to walk away from Tony. "Can't say I'm surprised. He only cared about one thing while here - himself. And that will get you eliminated faster than failing on your martial arts training."

*********

Tony headed upstairs to watch over Marko's class from the overhead railing like last time. He wondered if anyone would notice Andersson was missing. Most were used to people disappearing after a time that it became normal for them.

Though he didn't have to wait long.

Elias looked around the area. "Where is the blond guy? Andersson, I think his name is."

Marko ignored it and addressed the class, "Today we work on repeating various stances and movements. We will do three for today and another three tomorrow. I expect you to practice them until next class."

Elias moved out of the line of recruits. "Didn't you hear me? Where is he?"

Marko was about to say something else but another recruit with black hair interrupted, "Shut up, you idiot. He's gone."

Elias blinked at that statement. "Gone? Back to prison?"

"Dead! He's fucking dead. Now shut up or we'll all be killed."

Elias glanced over at Marko. "He was killed? Why?"

Marko glanced up at Tony with an annoyed face.

Tony began speaking to the class from above, "Recruits that don't excel in their training are eliminated. There is no point in wasting time on those who refuse to learn. He had two months of training and yet he was still in the beginning class. That is unacceptable and grounds for dismissal."

Elias turned around to glare at Tony. "You had him killed, didn't you?"

"No, that is the decision of our leader. I just carry out his orders, like all of us do. Every single person, save for the leader, has completed this training and passed it. We will not tolerate those who underperform."

Elias sneered at Tony. "I believe you killed him yourself. You couldn't wait to take him out once and for all."

The recruit to Elias' right turned and punched Elias in the gut, knocking him to the ground. "Do you want to die? If not, shut the fuck up. I'm not getting killed because of your stupidity."

Tony rose an eyebrow at Marko, who responded with a smile. "If you have any other questions about it, Elias, you know where my office is."

Elias scrambled to his feet, intent on hitting the other recruit when Marko stepped between them. 

Marko glared at Elias. "Never attack in anger! How many times do I need to tell you this? For this disobedience, you'll be my partner for this session and I intend to beat that into your head until it sticks."

The anger left Elias' body and he moved back into the line without a word.

"Good, now repeat what I do. Position one!"

**********

Tony went downstairs after Marko's class had finished. He was about to approach the trainer when Elias went up to him.

Elias bowed his head. "I'm sorry for acting in anger. I guess I have a lot to learn here."

Marko scoffed at the dramatic change in tone. "Despite your pretty words, I am unconvinced of your change in heart. You'll be my partner for the remainder of the week and only then will I decide if you have truly changed. Now go practice what we've learned today as I will be testing you tomorrow."

Elias moved away toward the crew quarters without another word.

Marko's eyebrow rose at the sight of Tony nearby. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

Tony hesitated, something he rarely did but this kind of thing wasn't the norm.

Marko noticed it. "What? I am to be eliminated now?"

"No, it's nothing like that. I just wanted to know if there are side effects to not sleeping as much."

Marko folded his arms across his chest. "Despite his apparent hatred of you, you two are very much alike that you completely tune out anything I say."

Tony was about to walk away when Marko reached out to grab his arm.

"Yes, there are side effects. Most notably the inability to focus on simple tasks, irritability which makes you a joy to work with, and with enough time hallucinations."

Tony blinked at the last item.

Marko saw it and commented, "I take it you've been experiencing hallucinations?"

"Auditory last night. I don't even know what they were saying, but they kept getting louder and louder."

"I shouldn't need to tell you how to rectify such things."

Tony turned away to stare into the distance. "There's too much to plan before the Lund mission. Namely picking two of our new recruits for the assignment. From what I've seen of the classes, I have a feeling it will be Lahtenan and Forcin."

"Lahtenan is a good choice, he fits the part and demeanor of what we want of him. Though, if I might, I would suggest Viljanen."

Tony glanced back at Marko. "You can't be serious. I mean, yes he looks the part we need but he's way too emotional for this. He'll blow the whole mission."

Marko shrugged. "Maybe, but I think it's an excellent test to see if he has truly changed his ways. What better way than to throw him to the wolves on his first test? If he fails, then we'll know right off the bat instead of wasting time on him later. And if he succeeds, then maybe he'll be a decent recruit after all."

"I believe Marko is right."

Tony froze at the sound of their leader's voice overhead. How long had he been standing there? Long enough to hear the conversation before it?

"You will work with Viljanen to get him up to speed on how to use the communication systems and what the mission will entail."

Tony clenched his jaw. "Has the mission details been finalized? I thought they were still in progress?"

The leader eyed Tony's demeanor. "I finished adding my parts to them this morning and will send the final draft of the mission your way after this. It will take place at the end of this month, so make sure Viljanen is ready for it. Lahtenan has completed undercover operations before. There is no need to train him further as Portimo will brief him when the day comes."

"Very well, I will do as you asked." Tony turned to Marko to say, "You dismissed him to his quarters for practice?"

"Yes, he should be there practicing with the other recruits."

**********

When Tony arrived at the crew quarters, Elias was in the middle of a group of recruits yelling at him for disobeying Marko.

"Look newbie, I'm only going to say this once - stay in line or you'll get killed off like Andersson did," said a recruit with shoulder-length brown hair.

Elias looked between the eight men. "As I already told you, I apologized to Marko and I'm not going to do that again. I was just angry they were keeping it from us that's all."

"At least you won't go down like that idiot Andersson did. All because of some pussy on the side. He was a fool to think he could get out just because some girl promised she would."

A blond recruit with buck teeth nodded. "And she got iced right before he did. Idiots, the both of them."

Elias moved out of their circle around him until a reddish-brown haired recruit grabbed his arm. He frowned at him. "What?"

"One more thing, don't piss off Kakko or you'll be dead even sooner. He'll kill anyone that's a pain in his ass."

Elias scoffed. "I can take care of Kakko. He poses no threat."

"Viljanen, we need to talk."

Elias froze in place.

The rest of the recruits moved away from Elias closer to their rooms but stood outside so they could still hear the conversation.

Tony approached Elias. "You will come with me to my office for an upcoming mission."

Elias turned to frown at Tony. "Just like that? I've only been training for a few days."

"Correct, but it's not a combat mission." Tony glanced at the recruit with shoulder-length brown hair from before. "Lahtenan, you will also be on this mission. As you've already done an undercover mission, there is no need for me to brief you at this time. The chief strategist will brief you closer to the date. Until then, you will continue your training."

Lahtenan stood up straighter. "Yes, sir."

*********

Tony opened the door to his office and moved to the side.

Elias frowned at it. "What?"

"Just making sure you're not going to take another swing at me."

Elias shuffled inside the office to sit down on the chair. "You heard what I said to Marko, I'm not going to act like that anymore."

Tony tapped the code on the keypad. "And how would you know that? I didn't say a word to alert myself."

Elias sat back in the chair. "I could smell you."

Tony sat at his desk with a raised eyebrow. "You smelled me? Hopefully I don't smell bad."

"Eh, just like spice. I assume it's your aftershave."

Tony tapped on the keyboard to bring his laptop to life. "Could be. At least you're gaining some tracking abilities. You didn't smell that in prison when I took you."

Elias shrugged. "I was more focused on not getting gang raped by wayward inmates."

"Inmates are able to open your cell at will?"

"No, but you never know what kind of lengths they'll go to."

Tony typed into his keyboard. "Indeed. I was regularly harassed during my limited prison time before they got me. Maybe that's why I worked so hard to never let anyone hurt me again."

Elias studied the look of sadness on Tony's face. "What's the deal? You were cold as ice when we've met before and now you're showing emotions?"

Tony glanced up from his screen. "What makes you say that? I don't recall breaking down in front of you."

"Well not that, but you're showing emotions now if only a little. Maybe you're finally melting your asshole exterior."

Tony went back to his laptop. "And you're gaining some insight by visual cues. It's a helpful thing when you're not dead set on trying to beat the shit out of your boss."

Elias snorted. "I'm still going to beat the shit out of you, I just need to learn more moves."

"Well, until then you'll be doing a mission for us. It's undercover to listen in on conversations around you. We expect you to remember key things as you're fitting in with the role. After it's done, you will debrief with myself and possibly our leader. That's up to him."

"Listening? That's all I'll be doing? That sounds like a boring job."

"No one ever said our jobs would be glamorous. Basically, you'll be listening to see if they reveal any dates of attack or where they might be hiding any cargo."

"Why would they reveal things like that around people like me?"

Tony sat back in his chair. "Because you will be all but invisible to them. Men like these don't care about servants around them. You are insignificant to them and powerless to interfere with their plans."

Elias stared at Tony confused. "Servants?"

"Yes, you'll be disguised as one of the men carrying the food trays around the room. Lahtenan will be doing the same while listening to another part of the room. Do not linger to listen in, just move around and try to listen in while offering hors-d'oeuvres. It's as simple as that."

"Won't they notice if a regular guy is missing and replaced with me?"

Tony leaned over his desk. "As I said, they don't care either way as long as you give them food like the good servant you are. We intend to capture two of the servants and replace them with you and Lahtenan. As these men tend to like brunettes and you two will do nicely."

"What if one of them gets fresh with me?"

Tony noticed the look of nervousness on Elias' face. "You will ignore it and move onto the next person. You'll need to rein in every bit of those explosive emotions and do your damn job. If you blow your cover in any way, they will kill you and ask questions later."

"So this is basically a test of my abilities to not act out in anger?"

"Yes it is, and also to gather intel. You can thank Marko for suggesting you. He brought it to my attention that you would be a perfect candidate to see if you're indeed a changed man like you proclaim."

Elias sat back in his chair. "Figures. So do I have to prepare for it? Gear or any training other than listening."

"When you get the chance, meet with Henkka and tell him you're on the Lund mission. He probably already knows from Marko. He'll be able to fill you in on what gear you'll use. It won't be much other than some things for your ears."

"Earrings?"

Tony rose an eyebrow. "No, things for inside your ears to listen to us talking to you. For the most part, we're going to keep the channel quiet so you can concentrate, but we might give you directions for leaving when it comes to that."

"How long do I sling food around?"

"No idea, it could be all night. Basically, until the party ends or if you've discovered what we're after. The full briefing will take place on the day of, the last day of this month."

Elias motioned to his black workout clothes. "I doubt I'll get to wear this while there."

Tony turned his laptop around to face Elias. "No, you'll be wearing one of these."

Elias stared at the image. "You can't be serious. That's a monkey a suit for guys getting married."

"Then think of this as your wedding day. I'd imagine you'd look stunning in a tuxedo, just like the others in the room. That's another reason we chose you. You're the best looking along with Lahtenan of our newer recruits."

Elias ducked his head to hide a faint blush. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't look anything different than anyone else."

A slight smile crossed Tony's lips before fading just as quick.

*********

Elias walked into Henkka's domain.

Henkka glanced up from the gear he was working on. "What can I do for you?"

"Kakko said you would know what was needed for the Lund mission."

Henkka smiled at Elias. "You said Tony's name very calmly. Maybe you are changing like Make told me."

"Just tell me what I need."

Henkka laughed at Elias' eye roll and moved away from the worktable into the storeroom. He dug inside a clear container, pulling out a small black box.

Elias frowned at it when Henkka came over to him. "What's that?"

"Your gear for the mission."

Elias took the box out of Henkka's hands and opened it. He stared down at two tiny pieces of metal on a bed of foam. "Um, what are these? Hearing aids?"

Henkka took one out, reaching up to put it in Elias' ear. He grabbed a remote control device off the nearby counter and tapped in a few commands. "Let's test this out."

"What the hell does it do?"

Henkka grinned and spoke, but Elias couldn't make out the words at first until suddenly a voice spoke in his ear with the words translated into Finnish.

Elias gaped at Henkka. "It translates languages?"

"Yep, and I can add languages for it to translate from or to with a press of a button. Right now it's set to Swedish which I just spoke at you. For your mission, it will be Russian and possibly some Russian derivative that we haven't heard before. I'll be monitoring what they're saying with this other in-ear device." He stopped to sigh. "Despite what Tony tells most newbie recruits, we'll be recording the conversations around you depending on where you are in the room. You don't have to remember anything other than trying not to react to what they're saying."

"And thereby my test thanks to Marko, to see if I can control my emotions."

Henkka removed the device from Elias' ear. "For the most part, but really we need to find their hideout and location of the cargo. We've yet to be successful with this group, always outsmarting us in some way. This is our last chance before giving it to another division to take a crack at it."

"So we've done this before and failed? What happened to the guys undercover?"

Henkka put the device back into the clear container without answering Elias' question.

Elias followed him inside. "I take it they didn't make it out alive."

Henkka turned around with a frown on his face. "Yeah, you could say that. Though before that, they were brutalized and probably raped repeatedly. We could hear every agonizing moment until they found our old devices on them. Then it just went quiet and the transmission was dead."

Elias swallowed hard. "Is that what awaits me if I screw up?"

"Pretty much. Tony wouldn't want me to tell you this, but the success rate is less than ten percent of succeeding. They don't want you to fail, just that it's not going to be easy unless we get really lucky and they happen to blab important information while you're there."

**********

Tony was standing next to the tunnel that headed down to the garage. He checked his watch and grumbled under his breath.

"Keep your pants on, I had trouble with this stupid tie."

Tony glanced up and had to stop a gasp from escaping his lips.

There in front of him was Elias, decked out in a black tux with his long brown hair draped over his back. Usually it was held back with a hair tie every time Tony had seen Elias in the past.

Tony eyed the suit and then snorted. He wandered up to Elias, his hands going up to the tie. "Didn't your father ever teach you how to tie a bow tie?"

"No, he didn't," said Elias through clenched teeth.

Tony made a mental note to research Elias' past more than the surface information after this was over. "Well then, I'll have to teach you. You take this piece and move it...." He stopped and undid the tie from around Elias' collar. "You can't see what I'm doing like that." He pulled his black sweatshirt down to show off his pale neck and draped the tie over it. "Ok, pretend I'm wearing a tux and watch what I do. You take this piece and wrap under the other. Then fold this piece over the front, while folding the other half underneath it. Pull ends to tighten."

Elias didn't respond.

Tony glanced up with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

Elias flushed. "Nothing. Thanks for the instructions."

Tony undid the bow tie around his neck and handed it over to Elias. "Now you do it."

Elias' hands fumbled with the tie he couldn't see.

Tony leaned in, touching Elias' fingers. "You're close. Take your right hand and move this piece over here."

Elias moved his hand while looking at Tony's red lips, overshooting where Tony wanted him.

"As much as I love playing with your uncoordinated hands, we need to get this done. I'll just do the last part."

Elias ducked his head.

Tony shoved Elias' chin up. "Keep still, I'm almost done."

Elias bit his lip and connected with Tony's eyes when he looked up.

Tony's eyes briefly looked down at Elias' lips before glancing back up. "You're ready to go. Henkka is in the van with the gear and Lahtenan."

"You're not going with?"

"No, I will be here to advise you from afar. There is no need for me to be there since we'll be listening in to what's happening. If necessary, we have others that can try to intercede but know this that if you fuck up nothing will save you from men like this. They will kill you before we can even get there."

Elias swallowed hard. "Then I'll try to not fuck up."

Tony smoothed out of the front of Elias' shirt with the palms of his hands. "I know you will."

Elias watched Tony walk away, confusion brewing inside.

*********

Henkka grinned at Elias when he entered the van. "Having troubles?"

Elias sat next to Lahtenan. "No, what's the plan?"

Henkka laughed at Elias' frown. "Must have run into Tony before coming here. I'd imagine he gave you the cheery news that this mission is a hard one."

Lahtenan shrugged. "Undercover missions are just gathering intel, not fighting. Therefore easy overall."

Henkka's eyebrow rose. "Apparently Tommy didn't fill you in for this one. We've tried twice before to locate the cargo and what their plans were, but our people ended up being tortured and killed. That being said, this is not some easy mission. You two fuck up and say goodbye to your lives in an instant."

Lahtenan turned to gape at Henkka. "Tommy didn't tell me that. I mean, I've known about people dying on missions but I didn't think it was this one. Is that how Jani got killed?"

"Yeah, he was on the second mission trying this. We didn't have much information, nor the correct gear. Tony still blames himself for that, despite what he shows to the recruits. This is our last chance before a higher level takes it away and labels us a failure."

Elias nodded. "Kakko told me as much."

"The thing we have over the last two is the translation gear. It's more advanced than what we had a year ago. It does it in real time instead of delayed by up to three minutes. Both of you will have an earpiece for one ear and the other will be for communications from Tony or myself."

Elias took the box Henkka handed him and opened it. He looked down at the earpieces. "So which one goes in each ear?"

"Translator is on the left side and it goes in your left ear, the other going behind your right ear. I have to warn you to not be distracted by what you're hearing from the conversations around you. Keep doing your job and moving around the room with food trays. If they figure out you can understand them, they're not going to say anything relevant. If confronted by anyone, fain ignorance and start talking in Finnish like you don't know what they're saying."

Elias put the left one just inside his ear and frowned. "It feels weird."

Lahtenan laughed at Elias. "Yeah well, get used to it. Every undercover mission has one just like it."

Elias grumbled under his breath, putting the tiny dot of metal that made up the second earpiece and pushed it against the back of his ear. It was flush and hidden behind his hair like Henkka told him a week ago. He was about to say something when Tony's voice came into his ear, "I shouldn't need to tell you this, as I'm sure Henkka has prattled on about it several times now, but keep your focus on the job at hand. Do not react to anything you hear, no matter how disturbing it might be. These men are some of the vilest we've encountered and they will say things aimed at both of you. You aren't supposed to know Russian, so don't give them any indication that you do."

Lahtenan frowned. "What kind of things?"

Tony said in both of their ears, "It doesn't matter, just do your damn job. I will not have failure on this mission because of you getting all huffy over rude language. You should be used to it by now as former prison occupants. Whatever they aimed at you back then is about on course for what you might hear tonight. Just ignore it and move around the room with the food."

********

The van stopped in a deserted alley. Henkka radioed to Tony to say they arrived.

Elias played with the button on the cuffs of his jacket. He had so much built up nerves inside that he didn't know if he'd be able to do what they expected of him.

Henkka finished and smiled at Elias. "We'll be watching you. Just listen for our cues if something goes wrong."

A deep voice came out of the radio Henkka had, "I've acquired the two outside. Proceed with the next step."

Henkka motioned to Elias and Lahtenan. "Alright, it's time. Just go through the back door and head for the kitchen a few doors down. They're expecting two brunettes to show up, meaning you two."

Elias glanced over at Lahtenan, who wore a frown. "Good luck."

Lahtenan nodded but didn't respond.

*********

Elias and Lahtenan nodded at the tall man with bushy hair standing by the back door with two wide-eyed men with brown hair. Both decided asking about the two men was probably not a good idea so they kept going.

An older man with gray hair poked his head out of a doorway and yelled at them in stilted English, "Get in here!"

Elias and Lahtenan hurried down the long hall to the man. He pulled them by the arms when they got close enough inside a busy kitchen area, swarming with several people running around with cooked food or in the process of being cooked.

The man shoved large platters into their hands. "This is the next round. Circle around the room several times before coming back."

Elias took a tray that had some kind of weird fish appetizer. He followed Lahtenan into a spacious ballroom packed with a hundred people. This many people at once always made him nervous but he pressed on.

He had a job to do and damned if he wasn't going to do it.

*********


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first mission for Elias is a doozy, filled with things that would normally make his skin crawl.

Tony watched and listened from the communications area along with the head of that department - Tommy Portimo. 

Tommy's team consisted of a ragtag bunch of half hackers and half former military radio cryptographers. They all had varying degrees of hair length depending on where they were ultimately pulled from.

Though Tommy himself had one of those old-fashioned bowl cuts where everything was perfectly circular. Very military grade, despite Tommy coming out of prison several years ago. He tried to hack a government agency to get out of military duty for himself and a friend.

Their department snatched Tommy from prison pretty much right after he was sent there. He was way too valuable to languish in prison for months, risking him getting offed by some hothead prisoner.

Ironically, the friend Tommy was trying to help also ended up in prison, though on a completely different charge of murder. Both were extracted together but placed in different departments.

A sigh escaped Tony's lips thinking back to the mission a year ago with Tommy's friend Jani killed by these same men. He should push it out of his head for good, but times like these always brought it back to the surface to taunt him all over again.

Tony punched a button on the console in front of him. "Elias, stop pausing to listen in on conversations. You're not supposed to know what they're saying. We're recording all of it and processing it. Just do your job."

He could hear a snort come from Elias in response before he moved onto another group of people.

Tony turned to the right. "Any IDs of our target people at the party yet?"

A teen with a buzz cut glanced up from his monitor. "Not yet, though most are famous for being really damn rich. Some kind of socialite party or something."

"Very likely, the rich tend to have particularly weird tastes from what I hear. I wouldn't know since I grew up mostly poor."

Tony turned when he heard his name called. "What is it, Tommy?"

Tommy pointed to the display. "You might want to radio Lahtenan as he's not handling it well. I suspect he's figured out why all of the servers are young men."

Tony tapped another button and talked into his headset, "Lahtenan, do your job and stop listening in to what they're saying. None of that will apply to you if you don't blow your cover."

Lahtenan responded under clenched teeth while facing a wall, "This is bullshit."

"We know, and that's the whole point of us trying to figure out where their base is. If we can find that, we can rescue those forced into things like this. It's all part of a greater plan, and that doesn't include making you feel like garbage. Give us a little credit."

Lahtenan moved away from the wall to head back into the kitchen.

Tony assumed he'd have to babysit Elias through this and not a somewhat skilled recruit. 

He just hoped Lahtenan didn't do something to jeopardize everything they were trying to do.

***********

Elias cruised around the room with his fish appetizers, waiting for people to take some before moving on. He tried to avoid looking them in the eye, preferring to stare at their chests or hands.

No one had really told him to do that. However, from the look of disgust on one woman's face when he did look, it was enough to tell him that he should keep his eyes down.

He just wished he didn't have to be subjected to their rude comments. Some were mocking his long hair, saying he looked like a girl instead of a man. Others commented on his ass, saying they would love to give it a squeeze.

Thankfully, no one had tried anything beyond rude comments, for that he was happy about it. There was no telling how he'd react if someone actually made do on their wishes.

Elias was sure Tony would rip him a new one if he ended up decking someone trying to grab his ass.

He was so lost in mindless thought when he noticed the people around him turning to face something behind him. Everything inside said to keep moving around the room and ignore it, but he couldn't.

Instead, he turned to see what they were looking at.

There in the doorway was a silver-haired man with a freshly shaved face and two men in black flanking either side of him.

Elias was about to look away when the man caught his eyes, looking deep into them.

It was then that he knew he'd fucked up.

*********

Tony swore under his breath, seeing Elias turn to face the one man in the whole room he shouldn't. He tapped on a button to call into their leader's office, "We have confirmation of a Mikhail Runov sighting."

Their leader's voice came over Tony's headset, "Good, I'll be right down to observe the proceedings."

Tony took his finger off the button and grimaced. Just what he needed, their leader observing every move of the operation.

It wasn't unwarranted since this man was supposedly the head of the whole operation. Then again, Runov wasn't likely to give out information with Elias nearby. They needed one of his men to spill the beans first, preferably after copious amounts of vodka when the tongues started to loosen.

Sadly, that was several hours away and after a formal dinner before that happened.

Would Elias be safe for that long, or would Runov seek him out just because Elias had done something not the norm for his boys? Punishment was harsh when you didn't behave and Tony wondered if Elias would last long enough to not be harmed.

The leader stood beside Tony to watch the proceedings. "How are the recruits doing?"

Tony glanced down at the screen at Elias who had finally started moving around the room with food, all the while Runov's eyes were on him. "So far so good."

"Where is the second recruit? I see Viljanen but not Lahtenan."

Tony watched the screen for Lahtenan's form but not seeing it. He turned his head to call out to Tommy, "What's going on with Lahtenan?"

Tommy listened for a bit. "Looks like he's waiting for more food. I believe they're about to do the fancy dinner soon from the various languages I'm hearing in the kitchen area. Get Viljanen back to there as soon as possible."

Tony tapped the button and talked into Elias' ear, "One more pass and then go back to the kitchen. Dinner is about to be served."

He saw Elias nod and go to the next grouping of people close to the kitchen doorway. They paid him no heed and he moved away into the kitchen.

*********

When Elias walked into the kitchen, the old man snatched the serving tray out of Elias' hands. "It's about time! Three passes and then back."

Elias ducked his head and apologized in Finnish.

The old man pulled Elias over to stand next to Lahtenan. "Stay here until dinner is ready."

Elias glanced over at Lahtenan who wore a twisted face of anger. He nudged Lahtenan's shoulder and whispered, "Calm down, you'll blow our cover."

Lahtenan whispered back through clenched teeth, "I hope every one of those vile people chokes on their food."

"So they were making comments at you too?"

Lahtenan nodded. "About bending me over and fucking me. Or wanting the two of us to fuck in front of the whole gathering."

"Seriously? All I got was people commenting on my ass and wanting to touch it."

"Yeah well, those old bats on the far wall were the ones saying it. Maybe you'll get to experience it when they do the dinner. It took everything inside to not smash their faces in with the serving tray."

The old man rolled his eyes at their conversation, grabbing both by the arms. "No talking. Dinner is ready for serving. Follow others."

Elias tried to line up behind Lahtenan but a few other men got in before he could. He figured Lahtenan would be fine without him near.

They just had to get through the night and this nightmare would be over.

**********

Tony switched to the dining room camera, one of Tommy's team hacked into the database to give them a live feed to watch. He looked around the table at the older people wearing fancy gowns and suits, rolling his eyes at the show of wealth.

The leader noticed it and raised an eyebrow. "You do not approve of fancy dress parties?"

"Not really. I grew up poor so all of this is just a waste of money and energy. It's probably why I spent so much time in my bedroom listening to music. It was free and relaxing. This would drive me crazy."

The leader smiled and added, "But that's not all you did in your room back then."

Tony's jaw clenched at the insinuation that there was a part of his life he chose to ignore and yet their leader had access to all of it from old records. He had to be very careful with his response because something flippant wouldn't go over well.

Luckily, he didn't have to as shouting on the radio interrupted his train of thought.

Tony glanced down at the images in horror.

Lahtenan was ranting and raving about being mistreated by a bunch of greedy, perverse assholes right in the middle of dinner.

Tony noticed Elias try to move to him and responded in Elias' ear with a button press, "Elias, stay where you are. If he wants to hang himself, then let him. He knows full well what happens to those who mess up on these missions."

Elias ignored Tony, handing his tray to another server and weaving around the others who separated him from Lahtenan that were frozen in place. He shook his head and said in Finnish to Lahtenan, "What are you doing? They give us a place to live and clothes and you do this to them?"

Lahtenan kept ranting despite it.

Tony was about to call down to Elias again when their leader intercepted his hand. He turned, annoyed that he was being impeded during a mission. "What is it?"

"Let Viljanen handle it. I believe I know what he's doing."

Tony removed his hand from the button and watched Elias repeat his words calmly to Lahtenan.

"Please, continue with your job. We don't want to anger them further."

Lahtenan shook his head, dropping his tray to the ground with a loud crash. "No! Fuck these greedy assholes. Fuck them in the ass like they apparently want to do to us. I've heard their filthy words out of old hags that could be my grandmother."

Several older women gasped at the notion of such a thing.

The silver-haired man at the head of the table got out of his chair and strolled over to Lahtenan. He struck out to drop Lahtenan to the ground into a heap with little effort. He nodded to the men in black from before to collect the body. Before Elias could get back to his position, the man reached out for Elias' wrist. "Thank you for your kind words. I shall repay them in kind later tonight. In fact, I might have to keep you for myself."

Elias backed away from the man once he was free, hurrying back to his place in line and grabbing the serving tray.

Tony swore under his breath. 

That's the last thing they needed right now.

*********

Elias got to the silver-haired man with his tray of food. He stopped to serve some on the man's plate. He ignored the fact that the man was grinning at him in a way that made his skin crawl. In trying to defuse the situation, he only made it worse for himself. Now he was the object of the man's undivided attention and that's something he definitely didn't want.

He could only imagine what this sick fuck had in mind, though Elias was sure it wouldn't be nearly as consensual as the man made it sound. Just being near his leering eyes was enough to turn Elias' stomach.

Though when the man reached out to stroke Elias' ass, it took every bit of strength inside to not deck the man. Well-manicured fingers slipped between the crack of Elias' ass, rubbing the fabric of his pants slowly.

Elias tried his best to ignore that the man fondled him in full sight of everyone else, but he doubted that any of these people would care. At least from their rude statements earlier.

The next server was trying to push Elias out of the way.

Elias stepped away from the man, thankful for the interruption and moved to the next person. He happened to glance over to see the next server getting the same treatment as Elias had, only he enjoyed being touched by the man. He swallowed the bile of disgust that rose in his throat and went to the next person.

**********

Tony rose an eyebrow at Elias' reaction. "Well, you have grown Elias. I would have killed that man if he'd tried that on me."

"That's why they're recruits and you are not anymore. You have to learn to behave in a tough situation and rise above it."

Internally Tony rolled his eyes, remembering his first mission when he ended up killing a man who tried to rape him. Thankfully, the man was slated to die after blabbing the delicate information Tony was supposed to extract or he would have been punished for that act. 

Instead, they promoted him out of the new recruit pool and into the leadership role. A much lower level than he was now, but it was a better situation than having to deal with garbage like that again.

The fact that he could kill a man in cold blood probably helped his rise to where he was now. This business was not for the emotional, just a cold calculated man who could keep pushing on despite it.

It was something Tony hoped Elias would become in time, able to do his job without interference from Tony at every step of the way.

Tony remembered Lahtenan still had a wire and turned to Tommy, "Is Lahtenan's wire still active?"

The buzz cut kid nodded. "Yep, though it's not giving us much at the moment. Just a lot of shuffling and moving around. Since I don't know where they took him, I can't find what camera to hack."

Tommy moved over to stand by the kid. "Cycle through all of them to find where he might be. We don't have much to go on at the moment with Viljanen as he's too busy dodging wandering hands."

The kid shivered. "Better him than me. I'll try hunting around." He turned to another teenager with short curly black hair sitting next to him. "Let me know if you hear any voices on the channel."

"Will do. I assume they'll take him somewhere that other people are."

Tommy nodded. "Let's hope it's actually where we want him to be like the location of their cargo."

Tony frowned at Tommy. "You think they'd actually be that stupid?"

Tommy shrugged, going back over to his post. "Who knows with this bunch? It's not like they knew he was wired in the first place."

**********

Elias got back into the kitchen, slumping against a wall and trying to catch his breath. Serving people was a lot harder than it looked. Though it didn't help matters the silver-haired man fondled him every time he went past.

He tried to push his emotions to the side like he had when he was a kid. It would be over soon, assuming one of them blabbed something important during dinner or after it. 

That meant he was trapped until that happened.

How long would they allow that man to manhandle him before interceding? Would they just leave him to rot like the other recruits lost on these missions?

Elias took a breath and tried to whisper, "Tony? Can you hear me?"

The line was silent.

"Please Tony, just let me know when I can leave. I...I can't take this anymore."

The older man grabbed Elias by the arm. "Dinner is not finished! Stop wasting time."

Elias swallowed the lump in his throat and grabbed yet another plate filled with food. He had to hope Tony heard his pleas and would interfere if needed.

**********

Tony sighed at the desperate pleas from Elias, knowing he was on radio silence unless they were getting Elias out of there.

The leader studied Tony's frown. "Is that emotion I see on you, Tony? Usually you could care less what happens to recruits and yet you seem to care for Viljanen."

Tony pushed his emotions to the side before answering. "I don't like hearing pleas from the recruits, I never have. Even when Jani was being tortured and probably raped to death. It's not exactly fun to listen to."

"Maybe so, but it is a part of our job. If we have to sacrifice a few recruits to finish the mission then so be it. Jani's death was one of those, however it occurred. It's just a shame that he didn't lead us to what we wanted."

The black haired kid spoke to the buzz cut kid. "I hear voices now. Lahtenan is still out cold judging by his vitals, but maybe these voices are in other areas around him."

"Try to ID the voices. I'm trying to find where Lahtenan's location is. I have a feeling they have some kind of signal jammer because all I'm getting is garbage when I try to locate it.

Tommy shuffled over to them to study the buzz cut kid's console. "Marksson, try to filter out the noise and start isolating channels. Even if you have to do it one at a time. We need to find where he is because it might be what we're after."

Marksson started to play with the signal data.

Tommy touched the back of the black haired kid's chair. "Malainen, any matches so far?"

"No, it's still processing. I believe there are at least three different people talking near him, probably amongst themselves."

Tommy tapped a few buttons on the console to listen in. He straightened up, his eyes going wide.

Malainen looked down at the results with a frown. "One of the people used to be from here."

Tommy turned and said, "Tony, you need to hear this."

"I'm busy listening to Elias' feed. Whatever it is, it can wait."

"No Tony, it can't. I believe it's Jani."

Tony froze in place.

Their leader looked down at Malainen's console to see the results. "Looks like Tommy is correct. The voice is a perfect match."

Tony's jaw clenched at the idea of Jani still being alive, despite the hundreds of dreams that taunted Tony when he slept about that mission. "What is he saying?"

Tommy listened for a bit. "Nothing so far other than commenting on Lahtenan's arrival to someone else, saying that Lahtenan probably came from one of their parties."

"Keep listening, maybe he'll say something significant."

**********

Lahtenan groaned and sat upright. He glanced around the metal cell in confusion. Where the hell was he now?

He rubbed at this head and tried to think back at the last thing he remembered. There was the party, shuffling around the room with food and listening to them say obscene stuff about his body and other things.

It was then that it hit him.

He'd acted out during dinner and landed here, wherever here was.

Lahtenan winced and took in the room he was in, no bigger than a prison cell without a bed. He stumbled to his feet and peered out of the thick metal bars.

"Good morning, sunshine."

Lahtenan blinked at the voice and realized it came from the cell across the way. The walkway between them wasn't more than a few feet across so the voice didn't have to yell out. "Who are you?"

The voice laughed. "Man, you must be a newbie. Though I haven't seen you before this. Where the hell did they drag you out from to wear a monkey suit like that?"

Lahtenan hesitated, wondering if others were listening in to their conversation. The last thing he wanted was for Elias to be killed by a casual chat. "Uh, an alley. They dressed me up and handed me a plate of food to serve. After a while, I got tired of their leering eyes and spoke out. I guess this is punishment for that."

"You could say that, but you're probably better off here than back at the party. That asshole silver-haired man named Runov would probably force you into sex after too long. He does it with all of those who work for him."

"Even you?"

"Yeah, even me. Though I was caught spying on them and thereby an easy target."

Lahtenan pressed against the bars to get a good look at the man, but he was shrouded in darkness from sitting in the corner of his cell. "Oh yeah? What's your name?"

"Jani."

Lahtenan's eyes widened. "Jani? As in Jani Liimatainen?

Jani moved out of the shadows, his long red hair matted and unkempt while dressed in what appeared to be filthy rags. "How the hell did you know that?"

Lahtenan bit his lip. "Let's just say I know what background you come from and leave it at that."

Jani groaned, shaking his head. "They're at it again. Fucking fools, all of them. Especially Kakko."

"Probably, but at least one of them is still there I think. Who knows how long he'll last though. He's a bit of a hothead when it comes to stuff like that. I'm actually surprised he didn't crack before me."

Jani sat down by the metal bars. "Is Kakko still there?"

Lahtenan frowned at the look of sadness in Jani's eyes. "Yeah, he's a supervisor. I believe it was the same as when you were there."

"It was, but I was hoping he would have been killed by now. He left me to rot, getting raped repeatedly by that asshole Runov. He could have easily intercepted but didn't. I almost wish this current mission will fail so he can finally get what's coming to him."

**********

Tommy's jaw clenched, listening to Lahtenan and Jani's conversation. He knew inside there was nothing they could have done to rescue Jani from his fate. Tony tried everything, but their leader blocked him at every turn.

Failure was part of the learning process, their leader prattled on as Jani was being raped.

Tommy never forgave their leader for that, uncaring of anyone other than himself. He would have taken action against him if he didn't value his life, but he couldn't bring himself to be that foolish.

Plenty of others had died over the course of the five years Tommy had been here, but this was different. Jani had been his childhood friend, growing up next door to each other and the best of friends since day one.

Neither of them would have been in this situation had Tommy not been caught trying to hack into a Finnish database in order to change their conscription status to complete. Jani had begged him to do it, refusing to join the military or completing community service. Tommy never bothered to think of the consequences involved if they were caught, instead of helping out a desperate friend.

Ironically, it wasn't Jani's record that they caught him changing, already done ten minutes before. It was Tommy's own record that they noticed right away and traced the hack.

It ended with Tommy captured and charged while Jani made a break for it. The murder charge leveled at Jani later was due to an accident of trying to get away from a military soldier. Jani would never kill someone like that other than in self-defense.

As luck would have it, both came to the same prison so at least it was something good for a change. Neither would have guessed what would happen next, but that was life in general. It never worked out like you planned it to be.

The leader looked over at Tommy's frown. "Anything new on Lahtenan's feed?"

Tommy took a deep breath, ignoring the old memories of Jani for now. "Not as of yet. They're basically chatting about being here."

Malainen blinked at the current conversion. "Sir, are you listening to this?"

Tommy focused on the conversation again. "Did Jani just say dock six?"

"Yes, sir. Do you want me to search for that? It might be where the cargo is located."

Tommy turned to their leader.

"Proceed. Lahtenan might have actually led us to the answer, even with his foolish outburst."

**********

Elias leaned against a kitchen wall after serving the last of the food and gasped for a breath. His fancy clothes were drenched with sweat and smelled of food that he wanted to get out of them as soon as possible.

The other food servers stood off to the side and glared at Elias for some reason.

Elias ignored it, figuring they were jealous of all continued unwanted advances by the man with silver hair all dinner long. That was not something to envy, or rather something that should make their skin crawl with every wandering hand.

How he was going to last the rest of the night was unsure at this point. Tony should be sending someone in to recover him by now. There wasn't much left to do other than after dinner drinks.

Maybe if he tried to slip out into the alley, he might have a better chance of escaping this hell. He moved to the doorway that led to the hall, but the older man from before intercepted him. "No leaving! Get back against the wall. It's almost cleanup time."

Elias went back to stand against the wall again, doubt eating inside of him.

**********

Tony listened to the conversations around the ballroom as Elias went around it with desserts and drinks.

At this point, it was moot to record the conversations if they found the location of dock six. If it was as if they hoped, then Elias' part of the mission was done and they could retrieve him.

If it wasn't, then Elias would have to endure whatever might be coming from Runov. He was hoping to act before Runov took Elias away and they lost their feed of him. As it was, the other parts of the house were blocked from camera footage other than the ballroom and dining room. It was anyone's guess why Runov allowed that, but it worked to their advantage in the long run.

Still, the idea of Elias manhandled like Jani had wasn't something he was relishing to hear. It was bad enough the first time around, let alone a second time.

Sadly, that was the downside of being a team leader - you heard things you wouldn't wish upon anyone.

**********

Once the desserts were eaten and the drinks downed, Elias watched the guests slowly leave one by one. He was thankful they hadn't acted on their rude comments and hoped the end was near for him.

He waited for Tony to say something, anything to let him know it was time to leave. They had to get him out before that odious man remembered Elias again.

Not that it would take much since his eyes were on Elias' body pretty much the whole night, watching him go around the room and taking every opportunity to fondle Elias' ass when he got close enough.

Instead, the man returned to the ballroom and smiled at the servers gathered together. "It was a pleasure to see all of you tonight. I value the time I spend with each of you. Though tonight, my attention will be taken up with the newest addition. That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy spending the night with all of you, but I am but just one man while you are many. Don't worry, I will come calling later."

Elias winced, hoping that didn't mean what he thought it meant.

The others around Elias grumbled about being overlooked and left the area, leaving Elias to stand alone with the silver-haired man.

The man walked up to Elias and smiled wide, flashing his perfectly white teeth. "Looks like you're mine tonight."

Elias fought back a shudder when the man ran his hand over Elias' cheek. The hand felt like a snake rolling over his face.

The man chuckled and pulled Elias' hand into his own. "Shall we?"

Elias silently prayed for Tony to answer his call. They had to know he was in trouble and would do something about it.

They wouldn't allow him to be harmed, would they?

**********

The man led Elias into a spacious bedroom in the upper levels of what appeared to be a fancy house. Having only seen the downstairs and kitchen, he didn't realize there would be anyone living above it.

He smiled at Elias, reaching out to stroke the side of Elias' face again. "It looks like I need to break you in. I hadn't realized how inexperienced you are with all of this."

Elias swallowed hard, trying to not to flinch when he was touched. He believed Tony would intercede at some point. The party was over, his job done with the end of it.

Why wasn't Tony interceding? He'd ask Tony but that would alert this asshole to what they were doing and therefore get Elias killed.

Though at this point with the prospect of probably being coerced into sex, Elias started to wonder if death would be a better option. At least he wouldn't have to endure a creepy old man fondling him.

The man undid the bow tie Tony worked so hard to make perfect with a flick of his hand. He tossed it to the side, going for Elias' white shirt next to pull it open.

Elias turned his head, unable to look at the man when he rubbed his fingers over Elias' hard nipples. The less he had to see of this the better.

Sadly, that didn't work with the man.

He yanked on Elias' long hair, forcing him to turn back to look. "I didn't say you could look away. You are mine tonight and no one else's. You do as I say or I will end your life in an instant.

Elias scoffed at the comment. "At least it would get me out of having to be touched by you."

The man's face twisted in anger, shoving Elias down to his knees and holding him there. "Looks like I need to teach you some manners. The first lesson is to clean your mouth out."

Elias wondered just what that meant when the man's cock shoved into his mouth. He choked on the wide girth, unable to catch his breath with it lodged almost down his throat.

"It will stay in there until you show me some respect, even if I have to kill you with it. I doubt a man like yourself would want to be killed sucking on a cock."

Elias looked up to glare at the man.

The man laughed at it. "I've seen that look many times, but I've managed to cure all of them." He pushed Elias face first into his crotch. "Now, I expect you please me until I say not to. You will learn that you are nothing without me."

Elias gagged on the cock, praying for Tony to intercede.

Where the fuck were you, Kakko?

**********


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias fights for his very life to escape the mess they've given him.

Tony winced at the noises coming through his ear. He didn't need to see what was happening to Elias, the sounds coming through the radio were enough for that.

Instead, he turned to Tommy and said, "Any news on Lahtenan's location? Elias isn't going to last the night if we don't narrow it down. Runov will just as soon rape Elias to death than to ever admit defeat."

Marksson shook his head. "Dock six could be anywhere at this point. They're jamming our signal so I'm not able to lock onto Lahtenan."

Tommy leaned over Marksson's console and tapped a few buttons. "Try searching the town that Elias is in now. It has to be close to that as Lahtenan's signal wasn't dead for that long."

Marksson entered a few more things and then got a result. "Ok, so there are four dock sixes in the area. One in the south, one in the north, one in the west, and one in the east."

"Then scan each one. You should be able to see if there are at least containers in the locations. Whatever blocks your scans might be the correct one. Then we can send someone down to see if it's true."

Tony glanced over at their leader. "Is that the plan? Free the cargo?"

The leader looked up at the digital clock hanging overhead. "We lose this mission at midnight, and there's only an hour left. If we can narrow it down fast enough, we can at least tell them which one to go for after it passes."

Tony pushed a button on the console. "Henkka, can you do a scan of the house? Where is Elias?"

Silence and then Henkka's voice popped in, "Reception is garbage at the moment but I believe he's upstairs. Not sure which room, it doesn't look like he's on the main floor anymore. Do you want me to send Pasi inside to retrieve him?"

"No, just keep tabs on the building for now. We're working on a lead from someone else."

***********

Elias coughed around the hard cock in his mouth, the constant thrusting making it hard to breathe. He didn't want to give that asshole the satisfaction of breaking down.

It wasn't easy when you were gagging around a cock stuffed into your mouth. Eventually his eyes would water and the asshole would gloat about it.

The silver-haired man thrust hard into Elias' mouth. "Finally, you're learning to take what you've been given. Now I expect you to suck it like you mean it instead of just slack-mouthed. I want you to worship it as if it was the best tasting thing ever. Once you do that, I might remove it and we'll move on to something else."

Elias sighed around the cock, wondering if he should just comply with the demands to be free of this thing in his mouth. Though to be honest, he didn't have much in the way of experience. He'd always liked girls growing up and really only had to deal with cocks in prison, and definitely not by choice.

His began to suck the cock as if he was sucking on a straw, hoping that it appeased the asshole for a bit longer.

He didn't realize at the time, but anger was slowly seeping into his veins. Mostly at the asshole for forcing him into this, and now at Tony. How he'd betrayed Elias' somewhat trust in him and doing nothing to prevent something like this.

Yes, it wasn't an easy mission but he had to wonder if Tony enjoyed seeing Elias brutalized at the hands of an asshole. Did it get him off? Make him feel like the superior jerk that he really was.

Thinking back to the bow tie incident didn't help, the softness of Tony's hands on his neck and chest. Was it all an act to get Elias to do this, using him like a pawn for Tony's own gain?

Anger raced through Elias' body, anger at the betrayal and anger over the fact Tony didn't really care.

If he ever got out of this, he was going to give Tony a piece of his mind.

Probably with his fists.

**********

Marksson took off his headphones and set them on the table.

The leader saw it and said, "No one said to remove those."

"It's not my job to hear someone being raped. I'm here to find Lahtenan's location, nothing more."

Tommy shoved the headphones on Marksson's head. "Then listen to Lahtenan's feed instead. Maybe you can hear ambient stuff we haven't picked up yet."

Marksson grumbled and switched to the second feed. He was about to continue on searching when he froze.

Tommy touched the back of his chair. "What is it?"

Marksson turned up the volume on the feed. "You hear that? That ringing. What is it?"

Tommy put on his headphones again to listen. "What ringing?"

"In the distance. You have to crank up the volume to hear it. Sounds like ringing."

Malainen cranked his feed up and listened. "No, it's some kind of horn. Like from a car or a boat."

Marksson turned to Malainen. "Patch into satellite feeds over the docks. I wonder if we can pinpoint that location by the sound of it."

Malainen typed into his keyboard, capturing a part of the sound and transmitting it to the search parameters. He figured it would take a while, but instead of it popped up with a picture of a blue boat. "I got a location!"

Tommy leaned over the console. "They're at the western docks judging by the satellite images and probably in that large building off to the side. It would easily hold what they might have in there."

Tony turned to their leader. "Orders?"

The leader nodded at Tommy. "Good work, transmit this to our field operatives to check out. Once they report back, we'll know for sure."

"And Elias?"

The leader shrugged at Tony. "He'll have to wait until the confirmation."

Tony kept listening, wondering if Elias would indeed hold out long enough.

**********

Elias' mouth and lips started to feel numb, while his jaw and neck were screaming at him in pain. He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up.

The smug asshole over him grinned at the fact that he was starting to get tired.

Elias wanted to smash his face in so bad, but he couldn't very well do that in this position. He thought to himself of what he could do to get out of this situation.

He could try spitting it out but he doubted that would fly with the asshole, who would just shove it back in harder.

This called for desperate measures.

Elias bit down hard.

The scream overhead was a lot higher than Elias expected this sort of man to emit. Either way, it was just enough for the cock to come out of Elias' mouth. He took the opportunity to topple man over and tried to punch him in the nuts.

This tactic didn't distract the man enough for him to kick Elias off him, landing a hit into Elias' stomach. The man got to his feet, kicking at Elias' ribs as he lay prone on the ground. "You will respect my authority! If you ever do that again, I will break out every single one of your teeth in response."

Elias pushed off the floor, the anger at Tony giving him more confidence if only to be able to deck Tony when he saw him next. "Just try it, asshole. I'm done playing by your rules."

"Is that so? You think an uncoordinated loaf like yourself is going to take me down. Think again."

Elias grinned, getting into a martial arts pose. "We'll see."

The man took off his suit coat, tossing it over the bed. He rolled up his shirt cuffs and shook his head at Elias. "I'm sad that I'll be damaging you. You had so much potential to be one of my favorites, but now you've ruined that."

Elias spat at the man. "By the way, you taste like shit. You might want to wash down there better every once and a while."

The man's eyes turned a darker shade as he lunged for Elias.

Elias took a deep breath, hoping he was doing the right thing.

*********

Tony blinked at the conversation coming from the radio. "Well, I didn't expect that. Sadly, you're going to be smashed by someone like Mikhail Runov. He's one of the better fighters that I've encountered, and even I couldn't take him down. I'm sad that we aren't getting a video feed for this. Maybe Elias can take him down a peg."

Tommy scoffed to the right of Tony. "From what Marko says Elias is a hothead that's liable to get killed by every move he makes."

"Yes, he's taken quite a few attempts at hitting me but never being successful. Apparently he's acquired a new found confidence, at least until he gets hit enough times to realize a fight with Runov equals a painful defeat, I admire him for trying."

Their leader looked between the two men and shook his head. He moved over to stand behind Malainen's chair. "Any news on our operatives getting to the dock?"

"Yes, I have a visual on them." Malainen stopped to pull up a video feed. "They're slowly approaching one side of the building. I haven't heard any news about what they're seeing yet."

As if on cue, a voice came out of the secondary radio. "Lenden calling in. We have a heavily fortified building complete with armed guards around every side. This is probably what we've been looking for."

The leader reached down to tap a button. "Proceed to the next step. I want to know for sure that it's the correct building. For all we know it might be a drug ring headquarters."

"Got it, proceeding on."

The leader turned to Tony. "If we can confirm that it's indeed what we're after then maybe we can do the next step."

Tony nodded, knowing that the next step was extracting Elias.

At least he hoped it was.

*********

Elias sidestepped the lunge, kneeing the silver-haired man in the stomach. "Attacking in anger will get you nowhere. You'd think a badass like yourself would know that."

The man punched upward, knocking Elias to the ground. "Only a fool would consider themselves the winner at the state of a battle."

Elias grunted and pushed himself off the ground. He spat out blood on the floor. "I never said I won, just pointing out that attacking in anger is stupid."

The man came at Elias again, this time going for Elias' side. Elias thought he had enough time to dodge it, knowing where the man was going but he didn't. He ended up on the ground faster than he hoped, landing hard on his side and knocking the wind out of his lungs.

A black wingtip shoe came at his side, jamming between Elias' ribs and making it even harder to breath. "You're weak on your left side. For as much bluster as you've expounded, you're still weaker than I am. You will learn in time to respect those who have power over you."

Elias waited until the man leaned down in his face to lash out, grabbing for the man's loose cuffs and hauling him down to the ground beside him. Fingers reached for the man's face, smashing them in his eyes. "Fuck you!"

Even though he couldn't see at the time, the man still managed to reach out to grab a hold of Elias' throat and squeezed.

Elias struggled to knock the man off, but the lack of air from before made him lightheaded and weak.

Spots started to form in front of Elias' eyes.

Was this the end?

*********

Tony winced at Elias choking in his ear, knowing the man was squeezing the life out of him. He turned to Malainen. "Report. What's going on? Are they in?"

Malainen nodded while still watching the video feed. "Yes, they just went in. I hear gunfire and shouting. They're encountering resistance."

Tony's jaw clenched, wondering if Elias would live long enough. Casualties were part of the job, but he needed Elias for other things and dying ruined those plans. He made the decision, one that would surely anger their leader. 

Fingers reached down to tap on the console. "Henkka, send Pasi in to retrieve Elias. Tell him to kill anyone who stands in his way."

Their leader glanced over at Tony. "I didn't give those orders."

Tony ignored him. "Leave Runov alive. We need him."

Their leader grabbed Tony by the arm. "I never gave those orders!"

Tony turned to look their leader in the eyes. "I did. I am Pasi's supervisor and those are my orders for him to follow. There is no point in allowing Runov kill to Viljanen and get away. Apprehending him now would save us precious time later."

"You're putting a lot of trust in Pasi's abilities. How do we know that Jani wasn't feeding Lahtenan the wrong information? He might have gone rogue in exchange for living."

"Jani would have welcomed death if he was presented it. He was tired of being here and he knew he had no life outside of it. There's no way he'd switch sides for that."

Their leader was about to argue further when the voice of Lenden sounded on the console, "We have it. This is where the cargo is."

Tony and the leader looked up at the clock as it struck midnight. Their leader tapped the console to speak to Lenden, "Stay there and wait for further orders. Our time is up but I don't want it to fall into others' hands. Make sure it doesn't."

"Aye, sir."

Their leader glanced over at Tony. "Turns out you were right. Retrieve Viljanen and bring him back here."

Tony said nothing in response.

There was nothing to say at this point.

**********

Elias woke with a start, wondering what had happened. He tried to move his arms, but thick ropes held them down to the bed. With a yank, he realized he was spread eagle on his stomach and naked.

The man laughed behind him. "You can't get out of it, I made sure of that. Now it's time to teach you a lesson you'll never forget."

Elias flinched, knowing that he was about to be raped and there was nothing he could do. He still had the wire, feeling the earpiece inside his ear and on the outside of the other. Maybe Tony would save him in time.

Then again, maybe Tony didn't give a shit. After all Elias was just some dumb recruit that probably deserved to die for all of the times Elias lost his cool.

Anger burned through Elias' veins again, still wondering if Tony was getting off on him being hurt. Did it fill him with lust to see his minions in danger, to have Elias get his comeuppance once and for all?

Elias yanked at the bonds on his wrists, twisting them around to break free. He'd had this done to him once before in prison and managed to at least free one of his hands to fight the rape gang off a little bit. This was one man and he'd been able to hold his own until the end. He might have an advantage at some point.

The man scoffed at his efforts. "You won't get free, I made sure of that. You'll feel every second of this to teach you to respect me as your leader. I won't tolerate those who don't behave."

"Just kill me so I don't have to listen to gloat like a fucking movie villain. All talk and no action."

The man dropped his suit pants to the ground, approaching the bed wearing a sneer on his face. "I will show you action and you will never forget it as long as you live."

Elias silently prayed that someone would intervene or tonight just might be his last.

**********

Pasi fired his handgun at two men as he headed upstairs. Henkka told him it was one of four rooms on the top floor and that he'd have to check each one due to scanner jamming on the part of Runov. He'd rather not have to waste time like that so instead he tried to hear anything out of the ordinary.

Elias would be screaming or calling out if they were raping or mistreating him. No amount of soundproofing could keep that kind of thing out.

Pasi approached the first door, putting his ear to it and listening.

Nothing sounded inside.

He shrugged, going to the next door and doing the same thing to hear nothing.

Pasi was about to try the third door when he heard screams coming from the fourth door. He raced down the hallway as silently as he could, shuffling up to the door and pressing his ear to it.

Elias' voice sounded, calling out swear words to whoever he was with.

Pasi aimed for the lock, intent on blowing it apart.

**********

Elias grit his teeth, the man smacking Elias' ass hard with his cock to punish him for pissing on the bed in protest. He would have shat, but he hadn't eaten in a while. Anything to prevent the asshole from raping him was a good thing, but he was running out of ideas.

Just when the man was about to finally thrust into him, the door blew inward from a gunshot.

The man tried to go for his gun on the other side of the room, only to be apprehended by a skinny man.

Elias squinted and tried to see who it was.

"Are you ok?"

Elias sighed, recognizing the tall man with bushy hair from before. "Pasi. Thank fuck."

Pasi shoved the man against the wall, pointing the gun at his head. "Can you get out?"

Elias twisted his wrist a bit, wincing at the pain running down his arm and pulled it out. He untied the other wrist and looked back. "I don't think I can get my legs."

Pasi pulled the man over to the bed, still with his gun on the man's head. "Untie him."

The silver-haired man shook his head. "No."

Pasi cocked the gun. "Now!"

The man grinned at Pasi. "No."

Elias winced again, shoving himself up to put his ass in the air long enough to reach the bonds on his legs. "Please tell me we're going to torture the fuck out of this asshole."

Tony talked in Elias' ear, "Quit talking and get the fuck out of there."

After finishing his second leg, Elias grabbed a clean sheet and rubbed it across his crotch to dry off. "Fuck you, Kakko."

"No thank you, you're not my type."

Elias picked his clothes off the floor to get dressed.

The man broke free of Pasi's grasp in an effort to escape.

Elias turned, digging a knife out of his pants pocket and ramming it at the man as he passed.

The man cried out, dropping to his knees with blood pouring forth.

Elias stood over the man. "That's for tonight. I hope you rot in hell."

Pasi winced and called to Henkka via the radio, "We're going to need a medic. Elias stabbed Runov."

**********

Pasi led Elias to the van, handing off Runov to the medic team. Elias slumped on the seat, grimacing at the pain in his back and ass.

Henkka radioed to Tony. "We've got Elias. Coming back. Though Runov is injured."

Tony groaned over the radio. "Where?"

Henkka frowned. "Where what?"

"Where did Elias stab him?"

Elias glanced up. "Right where he deserved it - his dick. The fucker won't be raping anyone else without some extensive surgery."

"Runov wasn't to be harmed!"

Elias leaned back in his seat. "Yeah well, you weren't about to be raped by the asshole. Nor were you felt up by him all night. I don't give a fuck what you think, Kakko. For all I know, you enjoyed watching it."

Henkka rolled his eyes at Elias. "He couldn't see anything beyond dinner, you idiot. The signal was jammed. All we had was radio from your earpiece."

Elias let his eyes close. "Then he enjoyed listening to it. I wouldn't put it past Tony to get off on others being fucked with."

Tony spoke in Elias' ear again, "If that was the case, I would have left you there to be raped. I know it's news to you, but It's not all about you, Viljanen."

Elias' face twisted in anger.

**********

Tony stood by the doorway that he saw Elias off from hours before. He didn't really need to be there as it wasn't that urgent to debrief Elias on the mission, but he had a feeling Elias would still be riled up.

Marko was beside him, though not for the same reason as Tony. He was waiting to help Henkka with his gear and anything else that needed to be done.

Tony sighed to himself, knowing Marko wasn't there just to help. It was Henkka he was after and only a handful of people even thought they might be a thing. 

No one had caught them in the act, nor did they act all lovey toward each other. It was just something that Tony figured was going on, despite the obvious evidence like touching and talking about other stuff. The little looks at each other from across the room or in situations like this after missions that Tony noticed they lingered on each a little longer than co-workers or friends did.

He had no solid proof of anything, which is why he kept his mouth shut concerning them. The last thing he wanted was for either of them eliminated for carrying on with each other. Relationships between anyone here was strictly forbidden and resulted in death if found out.

That hasn't stopped others from trying it on occasion, but you had to very careful who you told or where you did the deed. Cameras were everywhere, as Tony knew and anyone with a little more knowledge on how their systems worked could patch into them at any time.

Marko scoffed at Tony. "You're thinking too much, Kakko."

"I'm always thinking, as you know full well. That's all that keeps me sane at this point."

Marko studied Tony's demeanor. "And yet you broke protocol to get Elias out. You sure he's not helping?"

Tony stared down the empty hallway. "I need Elias to stay alive. The rest of the recruits are useless yes men. I want someone who will fight for every little thing because that means he's alive inside instead of resigned to this life."

"To make missions more interesting?"

Tony turned to look in Marko's eyes. "No, you know why. I'm sure Henkka has told you by now."

Marko's body stiffened. "Already?"

"No, Elias has way more training to endure before that happens. Not to mention other things have to come into play first. It all depends on how Elias handles the next missions. If he fails any of them, then it might be sooner than later."

Marko let out a trapped breath. "I see. Then I guess I have some work to do with him. He's learning, but it's slow going."

"Whatever it takes, even if you have to beat the shit out of him. He has to be ready when the time comes."

Marko's eyebrow rose. "Why him?"

"I can't tell you that yet. More research into his past is needed, but I suspect he and I are alike in a few ways. If that's the case, then I'll know my choice is correct."

Marko turned when he heard the doors opening. "For your part, I hope you're right."

Tony swallowed hard and hoped that too.

It was too late to find another to fill Elias' place.

*********

Henkka walked toward Marko when he appeared in the doorway. He gave no indication that he was happy to see Marko, just giving him a nod but Marko smiled in response.

Elias, on the other hand, went straight for Tony with waves of anger coming from him.

Tony waited for Elias to explode. He was about to get a piece of Elias' mind whether he liked it or not.

Instead, Elias tried to take a swing at Tony. He dodged it with an eye roll, causing Elias to tumble to the ground.

Marko grabbed Elias from behind before he had a chance to act again and growled in his ear, "Looks like someone is itching for more training sessions with his teacher. I will break you of that habit of acting out in anger, even if I have to kill you to do it."

Elias glared at Tony. "You left me there to rot!"

"Actually I broke protocol to rescue you. We were waiting to see if we had the correct location of the cargo or not. Our leader would have waited several more minutes to do it. Despite what you think of me, I take no pleasure in watching people get raped or abused." He stopped to look into Elias' brown eyes. "At least you didn't back down and take it like I thought you might do. You fought back, failing I might add, but at least you held out longer than most of our recruits do."

Elias spat out, "I wasn't going to give that asshole the satisfaction of breaking me."

"As you shouldn't. At least you didn't kill him as I did with mine. My first mission was to seduce a slimy guy into revealing details about an operation. Once I got the details, I stabbed him to death. Our leader wasn't exactly happy about that, but I figured he was a waste of space anyway. Might as well kill him off when I was done with him."

Elias stared at Tony.

Tony motioned to Marko. "Take him to medics to make sure he didn't get injured. From what I heard of the audio, he might have some contusions on his ribs and neck. Given that he lunged at me, I doubt his ribs are broken."

Marko dragged Elias forward. He stopped in front of Tony. "And what would you have done if I actually had killed that asshole tonight?"

"It's not up to me, but I can guess the leader wouldn't be happy about it. We don't kill you for one mistake. Though make it again, and it's likely to cost you your life."

"What life? Living here isn't a life I want."

"Too bad, you don't have a choice in that. You might as well make the most of it."

Elias grinned. "Oh, I will. I can't wait to beat the shit out of you."

Tony watched Marko drag Elias away and shook his head.

*********

Tony opened his office door and locked it with the keypad. He headed to his desk and booted up his laptop.

The computer came to life, waiting for his command.

Tony typed out a string of commands to access employee files. Technically he wasn't supposed to look at these but since he was Elias' supervisor it wouldn't look as odd.

He tabbed past the current information about Elias' prison sentence for blowing up an office building. Somehow, that didn't seem fitting for Elias to even attempt. He had no knowledge of bombs or bomb making supplies, nor the technical abilities to make the detonator. Tony suspected someone framed Elias, but he had no proof for such a thing.

With a tap of his fingers on the keypad, he dug further into Elias' past. Several blue collar jobs hauling things in trucks or doing inventory for grocery stores. They said a lot about Elias than any dry prison report would.

Then again, they were suspicious to Tony as well. They were the type of jobs that people who had a bad past took to disappear from sight. No one would look for them in the back putting packets of meat on a rack. 

Someone of Elias' ilk would at least get to manager levels over a span of five years but he never did. He stayed in the back, out of sight and out of mind.

Tony typed to get more information, but a message popped up to say it was restricted. He snorted at the message, typing a countermeasure to get around it. Whatever it held was obviously important or it wouldn't be locked away.

More messages popped up and Tony ignored all of them. He opened another window to access it from the back way, using a few tricks he'd learned from Tommy in his training days. A countermeasure here and multiple lines of coding there. He typed faster as if his life depended on it, which it probably did.

Their leader would be less than pleased at Tony trying to access information locked away in Finnish government databases. Though if it led to a better way of dealing with Elias' outbursts, Tony figured it was worth the yelling later.

Finally it opened for him, unlocking the rest of Elias' file.

Tony blinked at the wall of text and court documents. It wasn't quite what he figured, but it was definitely something he could use later. He scanned through the dry legalese to get to the meat of it.

What he found confirmed his suspicions and then some. Elias had gone further than Tony thought he might, earning a very harsh sentence for the rest of his teen years. The jobs Elias had to do later in life made more sense now. Those were the only jobs one could get after something like that.

Tony closed the connection to the locked database. He'd found what he was looking for and there was no need to arise any more attention than he'd already received.

He sat back in his chair and looked out to his empty office.

Now he just had to figure out how to make the most of the information he'd gathered.

*********


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias is hiding a secret and it's up to his trainer and his supervisor to discover it before it kills him.

Elias showed up at Tony's office the next day. He groaned when Marko pushed him inside to sit down.

Tony raised an eyebrow at Marko. "Why are you here?"

Marko smiled at Tony. "I wanted to make sure he got here and also we have training after it."

"Fine, wait outside until I'm done."

Marko nodded and left the room.

Tony turned to Elias. "Every mission will conclude with a debrief - a chance for you to air your grievances about the mission. How it was handled, how it could be better, that sort of thing. It's also a time for me to tell you what you need to work on if anything."

Elias sat back in his chair. "So basically a job review?"

"Yes, for the most part. Though in this case, we're only talking about what happened yesterday and not about your training in general."

"The mission sucked."

Tony typed that into his laptop. "Anything else you'd like to add about the mission more than that? What sucked specifically? Did Henkka or myself not prepare you enough beforehand? Did you not have the tools to do your jobs successfully?"

"Henkka gave me my gear but it would have been nice if my supervisor shared updates on what was going to happen. Then I wouldn't have wonder if the asshole...if he was waiting for me to do something."

Tony entered it in. "That's to be expected on your first mission. There's no real way to prepare you for what might happen when I don't even know what might happen. We have theories and we run simulations for insight, but it doesn't predict everything. For example, we didn't expect Jani to still be alive."

Elias stared at Tony. "Jani's alive?"

"Well, he was alive. He managed to feed Lahtenan the location of where they were. At least a vague idea and we put the pieces together later. That's why it took so long to rescue you from Runov. We had to narrow it down instead of sending four teams to four different locations."

"But he's not anymore?"

"Turns out there were devices onsite that we didn't notice as out of the ordinary. The field operatives tripped a silent defense system, which triggered an explosion. The whole building, including the cargo along with Jani and Lahtenan, was annihilated. I'll be hearing all about it from our leader after this meeting."

Elias looked down at his hands. "So Lahtenan died for nothing. What an idiot."

"Well, we got the location because of him so he died for something. It's just a shame about the cargo as it amounted to three hundred young men, who were about to be shipped overseas for slavery. Mostly sex slavery, but it was up to the owner how they used them. They could beat the shit out of them if they so choose to."

Elias lifted his head up with wide eyes.

"Yes, that was the real goal of this mission - to free those captured. I don't know what we would have done with them, but at least they wouldn't have been sex slaves forever. The reason I didn't tell either of you beforehand was that I didn't want it to color your actions. As it is, Lahtenan figured it out from the conversations he was hearing and acted foolishly. It got him killed in the end and you roughed up."

"Roughed up doesn't even begin to explain that. The asshole forced himself on me every step of the way. At least he won't have a dick to use against anyone else."

"Actually he was fixed while you were sleeping. Mostly in an effort to get him into our good graces. Having someone like that who knows the details of that sort of thing will help in future missions."

Elias' face twisted in anger. "You fixed him? You should have let him rot!"

"As I've said many times, it's not my decision to make. He has been cooperative so far, but that was after threatening to cut it completely off. Turns out he loves his dick more than anything else. Either way, he'll get a very short leash. One fuck up and he'll be eliminated, that much I can tell you."

Elias got up from his chair shaking his head. "I can't believe this bullshit. I get manhandled so you can find cargo that might or might not exist and then end up siding with the asshole who raped me?"

"Insider knowledge of sex slave rings is hard to come by. We'll take all that we can get at this point. Anything to make it easier to ruin organizations like these is always welcome. You don't have to like how we operate, it just is."

"You're pathetic. You don't even stand up when something like this goes down."

Tony glanced up at Elias. "I'd rather live than be cannon fodder later. It's not perfect by any means, but it's the hand I've been dealt. I can tell you that we always start new recruits on missions like these. You won't have to deal with men like Runov again unless you happen to get promoted to my level."

"Thank fuck for that."

Tony motioned at Elias with his hand. "You might as well sit. We have a few more things to discuss."

Elias sat in the chair. "What other things? We've talked about the mission and the aftermath. What else is left to say?"

Tony typed a few things into his laptop. "Namely how for you to improve on future missions. I did like how you kept your calm during the dinner and dessert. In any other situation, you would have decked Runov for trying something like that. You have improved in reining in your emotions. Though I could have done without you trying to hit me yet again. It's getting a bit old at this point."

"I thought you deserved it at the time for not intervening."

Tony looked up. "But you've changed your mind about that?"

"In a way, I guess I have. Had I actually known you were waiting for something else I wouldn't have been so angry with you. Even though you want to keep the recruits in the dark, a little information goes a long way."

Tony typed on his keyboard. "I will note that. That mission was to see if you could rein in your emotions when faced with that sort of thing. You accomplished that, at least in front of the guests. I actually liked that you fought back against Runov later. It shows remarkable resolve on your part to not just take his overtures without comment."

"Well if you learn anything about me, it's that I don't take shit from anyone. Regardless of what my prison record says, I fought every fucking one of those who tried to rape me. I might not have been successful, but you can be damn sure that I wouldn't just roll over and take it."

**********

Tony headed upstairs to their leader's office. He readied himself and went inside, fully expecting an earful.

Their leader turned, sizing up Tony's body language with a quick glance. "I'm not going to yell at you. On the contrary, you handled the mission well under the circumstances. That said I wish our field operatives had been more successful. I've let Portimo know to improve our sensors to detect those in the future."

Tony moved to stand beside their leader. "I'm sure he will. His team is young, but they are learning from their mistakes."

"Indeed, which any young recruit is bound to make. Speaking of new recruits, Viljanen did admirably in the face of adversity. I would have liked for Runov to be uninjured, but I guess I can be thankful Viljanen left him alive. Unlike your first time."

Tony shrugged. "Mine wasn't the head of a criminal organization. He was useless as soon as he spilled the beans on the mission. Nothing much was lost in the grand scheme of things."

"I would assume we can move to phase two with Viljanen once Marko has trained him up."

"Yes, that would be the next logical step to have him learn weapons training from Henkka. Once he's done both, then he can be sent on more difficult missions."

"In addition to Henkka, have him also learn from Pasi about distance shooting and aiming. He might as well learn all there is to know in order to become a complete operative."

Tony let his body relax just a bit with the knowledge of Elias getting more training. "Of course, I'm sure Henkka will send him to Pasi anyway. Pasi is the best sharpshooter we have. He's come a long way from a skinny kid who barely talked into a ruthless killer."

"As will Viljanen in time, I believe. He has the right pieces; he just needs them tempered a bit."

*********

Tony left Elias to train with Marko for another month. He would periodically watch over the class from time to time when he wasn't planning for the next missions.

According to Marko, Elias was progressing along and outclassing recruits who had a month head start on him. Eventually, they would weed out the stragglers and new recruits brought in to replace them.

Tony looked over today's class and noticed something odd about Elias' moves. He would block the other recruits fine but then he would leave his left side open. Even Runov not so long ago mentioned that while they were duking it out on Elias' last mission.

He had hoped Marko would have noticed such a thing and tried to correct it.

Elias winced when a newer recruit managed to get a jab in on the left when Elias wasn't looking.

Tony headed downstairs. He had to let Marko know about this, as it was going to be a liability later.

*********

Marko was finishing his class when he noticed Tony approaching him. He smiled at Tony. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

Tony motioned to Elias, who was in the midst of walking away with the others. "He's weak on his left side. I had hoped that it would be corrected by now."

"I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary with his fighting."

"Well I did, and you might want to fight him for tomorrow's class. Try to distract him however you want and then aim for his left side. It's always exposed no matter what. Even a man like Runov noticed it during the mission to capture him."

Marko folded his arms across his chest. "Very well, I'll call him out tomorrow. Though I don't know why I haven't noticed it before now."

"You're not watching his every move like I am."

Marko's eyebrow rose. "Is there something I should know about that? I know you ultimately want to use him later, but you are supposed to be evaluating other recruits as well."

"The other recruits are doing fine. Thankfully there hasn't been any like Andersson, who failed so spectacularly that all of the recruits knew he's about to be killed."

"Thankfully. I want my students to succeed, despite what others might think of me. I'm hard on them because I know the people we encounter are ten times worse than I am. If they're ready for even a fraction of that, then they'll do fine."

Tony shook his head. "I'm not questioning your abilities, I know you're an excellent teacher. You taught me everything I know and then some. It's just a suggestion on how to make Elias better overall."

"I know that, and I welcome any suggestions when it comes to the recruits. You are their boss after all. I'm just wondering how Elias has managed to keep this from me. I might not be watching him every second like you are, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow if Elias is hiding something."

*********

Marko looked at the recruits the next day. "Another day is upon us and we're going to mix up our usual partners for today. Viljanen you're with me and your partner Forcin can be with Pelton which is a newer recruit."

Elias swallowed hard and approached Marko.

"Come at me, Viljanen. I want to see how you're progressing for myself."

Elias readied himself before launching an attack at Marko.

They sparred back and forth with Elias blocking all of Marko's attempts at his left side.

Marko glanced up at Tony with a raised eyebrow.

Tony looked over at Elias and shook his head.

Marko shrugged and went back to attacking Elias. He landed a hit to Elias' right side and tried to land another on the left but Elias blocked him yet again. "I see you've been training up on your off time. You're much more mobile now."

Elias moved to hit Marko on the right side and missed. "Isn't that what we're supposed to do? It's not like I have anything else to fill my time. Kakko hasn't given me any missions to plan for."

"True, but it makes me happy that you are learning faster than the others. Tony in particular is pleased about that fact because it means you're ready for other training."

"I don't give a damn what that asshole thinks."

Marko lunged forward and hit Elias on the left side when he was distracted. 

Elias jumped back, not expecting Marko to attack so soon and got the full brunt of the hit. He winced and tried to get back into position before another hit happened.

Marko stopped and groaned. "Dammit, you are weak on your left side. Tony was right and I should have noticed sooner."

"Didn't I say that I don't care what that asshole thinks? You said it yourself that I'm progressing fine."

Marko was about to answer when he spotted someone standing behind Elias.

Elias frowned at it and then toppled to the ground holding his left side.

Tony snorted down at Elias. "You're weak on your left side. Have you been hiding an injury from us?"

Elias wiggled on the ground, trying to gasp for a breath to answer.

Tony got down on the floor beside Elias and pulled up his black sweatshirt to reveal a darkened mark on Elias' fair skin. "Well, there's the reason he's weak on that side. Looks to be a cracked rib from the swelling."

Elias grit his teeth. "You could have warned me before hitting from behind."

Tony yanked Elias up to his feet amid his screams. "You have to be prepared for anything that comes your way. I can guarantee none of the men you'll be up against in the field will wait for you to turn around. They'll take advantage of the situation just like I did."

Marko turned to call out, "Forcin, take Elias to the medics and then come back here."

Forcin hurried over to help Elias limp away.

Marko looked back at Tony. "Did you really have to damage one of my students to prove your point?"

"I barely hit him with that punch. The cracked rib was already there before I got here. At least we now know the reason he's so desperate to protect that side."

Marko watched Tony walked away, wanting to add that Tony only made it worse with the punch but he decided against it.

Having Tony on your bad side was not an option he wanted.

**********

Tony walked into the medics on the far left side of the area, down the way from Henkka's domain. He noticed a few people standing about chatting with each other.

They turned when they saw him. A man with sandy blond hair stepped forward. "Viljanen is in room five. We've given him some drugs for the pain and taped him up. There's not much else we can do other than waiting for it to heal. He'll be immobile for several weeks."

Tony nodded. "But he can sit upright to look at monitors or equipment?"

"Yes, after the first week. We want to keep him in here for that duration to make sure it's healing correctly. He should have come to us a lot sooner than this as it looks like it's been slightly cracked for at least a few weeks."

"That doesn't surprise me. Is he asleep or can I see him?"

The man moved back to the others. "He's groggy at the moment but awake the last time I saw him."

Tony walked over to the door marked with a five above. He strolled inside to find Elias staring at the ceiling. "Well hello there, sunshine. Looks like you've been keeping this from not only Marko but also myself for several weeks. I want to know how it happened."

Elias kept staring at the ceiling.

Tony grabbed Elias' right arm and pulled it.

Elias screamed, glaring at Tony. "What? Are you trying to crack that rib too?"

"I didn't crack your rib, someone or something else did and I want to know how."

Elias turned away.

"Answer me, Viljanen, or I'll give you a broken arm to match your rib."

Elias bit his lip. "I've been practicing moves with the other recruits after class."

"And? That's what you're supposed to do."

"Moves that Marko haven't been teaching us. One of the moves was a roll and I did it but I thought I pulled a muscle in my rib at the time. Then one of the newer recruits hit me in that spot and it started hurting more. I thought I could just let it heal but that's hard to do when you have class every day."

Tony let go of Elias' arm. "Instead you made it worse. Don't hide injuries from us or you'll end up dead next time from them. It's not like no one gets hurt here, as you found out on your first mission." He stopped to sigh. "Hell, you don't even need to tell me about it and just come straight here. They'll tell me eventually, but at least you won't die from infection or bone marrow leaking into your blood stream."

"Admitting weakness is not an option here. I've seen it used against people."

"That's true, but sending injured recruits out in the field is even more dangerous. We want you to be in the best shape possible, hence the daily training and workouts. If you're injured, then you're defeating the purpose of it."

Elias' jaw clenched.

Tony saw it and thought back to what he read in Elias' file. "Look, I know you've had to move on from bumps and bruises a lot in your life, but in this case come to me or Marko about them if they're like this. We're not going to look down at you or make fun of you. We're going to send you here to heal up."

Elias glanced over at Tony. "How do you know about my life?"

Tony moved away from the bed. "It's my job to know everything about you. That's how I picked you in the first place. My goal is to pick those who are looking for a new chance in life. Yes, undercover work or even killing people is not exactly an ideal job but it's more fulfilling than hauling groceries around."

"Everything about my life?"

Tony's eyebrow rose. "Well, not every minute of it but I do know enough to recognize when someone is hiding something out of feeling weak." He shuffled over to the doorway. "Despite what you might have heard or been instilled in you as a kid, weakness happens. The key is to make sure you learn to grow stronger over time. Not just physically stronger but mentally as well. The latter is not so easy to correct, but I believe you are dealing with it via training just like I did."

"You had a troubled childhood as well?"

"I did, and I've dealt with it the best I can. Even if I have to cut off my emotions from anyone in order to function. You're not the only one here with that kind of background. In fact, most of the recruits I've picked are people along those lines. Some are trying to exorcise their demons with fighting and some are just trying to feel alive after being so dead inside for so long."

Elias frowned. "But doesn't that work against you if they just shut down from it all? I knew guys in prison that still had nightmares about stuff that happened to them as kids."

"Yes, there are a few that don't cope with it. I don't expect them to love every aspect of what we do, as I don't even like some of it, but I'm hoping that they'll strive to be better against it. If they don't, then we eliminate them. Most seem to excel because it's better than being in prison and fearing for your life every second in there."

"That's the only good thing here, at least until you've been reamed by your fellow recruits for speaking out in class. Is there a reason they think that if one is outspoken, they'll all be killed?"

Tony shook his head. "No, as we've never eliminated a whole group of recruits just because of that. I'd say it's more they're paranoid from prison that they think Marko and I or anyone else in authority for that matter is against them. They have to put on a façade of obedience to make sure they're not singled out, which is pointless because it makes them an easy target for us to notice."

**********

After a week, Elias shuffled over to Henkka's domain.

Henkka glanced up from his worktable. "Ready to learn about guns?"

"I guess so. The only kind I've used was a rifle for shooting deer when I was a kid."

Henkka laughed and pulled out a sleek black handgun. "Not much use for hunting rifles here. This is the standard issue gun for most."

Elias picked it up with his right hand to hold it. "It's heavier than I thought it would be."

"You wouldn't believe how many recruits tell me that when they first hold it."

Elias flushed a little. "Does Tony use one of these?"

Henkka rummaged in another bin and pulled out a gun a little smaller than the first. "Tony uses this one. He doesn't like the extra weight of the standard issue gun. Since he doesn't go out much for missions anymore, it's left unused at the moment."

Elias picked up Tony's gun and smiled. "Yeah, I can see why he chose this. It is lighter but it would fit his smaller hands better than that other one." He pointed it at the air and looked along it. "Hell, even I like the feel of this. It's not too bulky or heavy for shooting."

Henkka's eyebrow rose.

"What?"

Henkka took the gun out of Elias' hand. "The fact that you can align the sights without me teaching you how to do it."

Elias ducked his head. "I've seen it done in movies. It makes sense when you do it."

Henkka put Tony's gun away. "Well, we can always give you a gun close to Tony's if that's what you want. Though for now get used to the standard one as all recruits are supposed to learn with it first. Once you become a full operative, then you can pick and choose."

"Like Pasi?"

Henkka headed into the back to pull out a shiny black rifle with multiple sights on it. "This is Pasi's gun for most missions. He tends to take out people at a distance, hence the full sized rifle. Though for the mission you were on, he just uses the normal handgun like the recruits use. There's no point in using a rifle for up close shots."

Elias gaped at the large gun. "Is that huge because he's so tall?"

"Pretty much. We had to have it customized for this length. That's why it's only used for specific missions like stealth or backing up others in the field. Beyond that, it stays with me until he's ready for it. That's basically what my job is - prepare gear for those going into the field."

Elias got up from the chair, bracing himself on the table as he did. "And teach newbies like me to work them."

Henkka pushed Elias back down. "We're not done yet. I want to make sure you know how to load a gun first. I can't take you shooting yet as it will pull on your ribs, but I can make sure you know how to work it. Also to clean it as well."

Elias picked the handgun up, turning it over his hand. "I assume there's some kind of latch to release the bullets?"

Henkka leaned over and pushed a button on the side of the gun. Out popped the clip filled with bullets. "Now push it back in and you try to eject it."

Elias pushed the clip back in with an audible click. He pushed the same button as Henkka did and it released again. "Seems easy enough." He pulled the clip out and studied it. "So looking at it this way will tell you how many bullets are in it?"

"Correct, turn it on its side and there's an indicator of how full the cartridge is. In this case, it's topped off by an extra bullet. We tend to do that just in case the recruit needs an extra round. Traditionally you wouldn't normally do that. In fact, Tony specifically asks for it to not be done with his gun. Not that he uses many bullets on most missions, but I try to have it the way he wants it."

Elias rolled his eyes. "Doesn't surprise me. He thinks he's too good for an extra bullet."

Henkka took the gun and clip out of Elias' hands. "More like he doesn't want it to jam at the wrong moment. That's been known to happen with topping off bullets. Tony won't have time to fiddle with it like the recruits do. If he's going in, he's shooting to kill and needs a gun that isn't going to fail him."

"Doesn't seem like he goes on missions all that much anymore. From the way the other recruits have been speaking, Tony hasn't been in the field since he got me."

Henkka put the clip back in and laid the gun on the table. "Sometimes we don't need him to intervene. If we have Pasi out there, then Tony isn't needed and more valuable back here. It's just when we have a big mission that most of the trained operatives are needed at once. Those only happen a few times a year. We try to send the least amount of people at every given time."

"I bet sitting on your ass for months on end can't be good."

Henkka's eyebrow rose. "Is that what you think Tony does? He's constantly working out to keep himself in shape with Marko or planning missions with Tommy and our leader." He stopped to frown. "In fact, sometimes I worry he's not getting enough sleep because he's busy working himself to death."

"That's all I see him doing. Either sitting in his office or watching over the classes."

A snort rang out next to them. "I do plenty that you're not privy to see."

Elias groaned at Henkka. "Why is it that every time I say something about him, he's right next to me to refute it?"

Henkka gave Tony an amused look. "Well, you know what they say in old movies - the walls have ears. Or maybe it's the walls have eyes. I can't remember."

Tony stood in front of Elias. "Let's just say I know when you're speaking out against me because your emotions come out full force in your voice. Incidentally, that's how Marko beat you last week. You were too worked up about me to pay attention, so you might want to fix that."

Elias grit his teeth, getting out from the chair to face Tony. "Stop annoying me and I will!"

Tony shoved Elias back down. "Marko will be glad that you're still acting out even though you're injured. He always likes to beat that into recruit's heads, and at this rate it's going to take a lot of time with you."

"I won't give Marko the satisfaction. My anger is towards you alone and no one else."

"Not even your father?"

Elias' jaw clenched, his hands balling up at his sides.

Henkka groaned between the two of them. "Are you two done? We have work to do."

Tony glanced at the handgun on the table. "Time to clean it?"

Henkka blinked at Tony. "How did you know that?"

"Elias isn't holding the gun, nor playing with the clip. The next logical step for someone not going to the firing range is learning how to clean a gun."

Elias glared at Tony. "Do you mind? We have work to do without you."

Tony picked up the gun, taking out the clip and placing it on the table. He undid the barrel from the handle. "Basically you want to see if there's anything down the barrel that could interfere with the bullet's release. To do that, you have to lube the barrel and use a brush to get out any debris from the firing."

Henkka opened his gun cleaning kit and handed Tony a brush with a raised eyebrow.

Tony ignored it and put the brush down the barrel. "This one looks like it's been cleaned recently as I don't even see any gunpowder residue."

Henkka beamed. "It has been cleaned. This is an example of what a clean gun should look like."

Tony reassembled the gun, locking the barrel back in and handing the gun back to Henkka handle first. "Then give me a dirty one."

Henkka took another gun from his worktable and handed it to Tony.

Tony removed the clip, undoing the barrel from the handle. He looked down the barrel and said, "There we go. Take a look at that."

Elias frowned at Tony. "Why are you doing this?"

"Just do it."

Elias took the gun and peered down the barrel. He blinked at the stuff all along the inside of the barrel. "Huh, stuff does get stuck in there."

"If enough stuff gets in there, it will either prevent the gun from firing or have the bullet come back at you. Neither is a good option, which is why I'm sure Henkka inspects every gun he gets back from the operatives. To not do so would not only jeopardizes his life but others who use his gear."

Henkka scoffed. "Spare me the public service announcement. I know how to take care of my gear."

Tony glanced up. "That wasn't for you, it was for Elias to know. What I'm trying to say is Elias should always inspect any firearm for anything that could cause problems. That's the whole reason we have this training in the first place - another set of eyes to inspect the gear."

Henkka folded his arms across his chest. "Sounds to me that you're questioning my ability to keep my gear clean and working."

"When there are several men all calling for your attention, even you can't find time to check every little thing. It's one thing if it's a simple three-man mission like the last one, but I've seen in the past where you didn't inspect everything first. Nothing occurred at the time, but I want to instill in all of the future operatives to check everything for defects."

Henkka took the gun out of Elias' hands. "Are you finished? I'm the one who supposed to be training Elias not you."

Tony backed away from the table. "Fair enough, I just want to make sure he's ready for later. It's important that he knows how crucial it will be in the field to have a functioning weapon is all I'm saying."

Elias motioned at Henkka. "I trust Henkka's abilities more than yours at this point."

"Henkka won't always be there to help you. Eventually, you will have to trust others and it's that very trust you should be careful about."

Elias was about to respond when Tony walked away. He glanced up at Henkka. "What was that all about?"

Henkka watched Tony walk away with a frown on his face.

**********

Marko's eyebrow rose when he spotted Henkka coming his way in the workout area. "By the look on your face, I'm guessing you had an encounter with Tony."

Henkka hit a nearby punching bag. "Sometimes he makes me so angry that I want to punch him. Though there wouldn't be any point because he'd fucking dodge it just to spite me."

Marko laughed. "Pretty much, but that's Tony for you. He tends to get under everyone's skin at some point. I will tell you that it does keep everyone on their toes because of it. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a whole other story."

"He barged into my teaching of Elias how to clean and load a gun like I was too stupid to actually do it myself and then questioned my ability to keep my gear clean. He claimed that if there were a lot of people around me that I would just deal with them and not inspect everything I give them."

"Well, he's kind of right. Anyone having to deal with others can get distracted at times." Marko stopped to wince at the glare Henkka was giving him. "Don't get mad at me because I'm agreeing with him. He has his reasons for making sure Elias is up to speed. You and I both know how important it will be later on if it all goes according to plan."

Henkka leaned on the nearby wall. "Maybe, but it's still annoying to be accused of being negligent. Like he's a patron fucking saint of everything and can do no wrong."

"You know that's not true. He's fucked up many times and does chastise himself over it later. You have to understand his position at the moment. Elias is basically slated to take over a higher level role, probably on par with himself and he wants to make sure Elias has all of the tools he needs."

"That's another thing, I think he's trying to get Elias to fall for him. Always interfering when Elias is learning from someone else and so far it's working. Despite the bluster Elias says, he's falling for Tony from how he talks about him."

Marko's eyebrow rose. "How do you figure that? Tony's never been known to seduce any of the operatives or even have overtures toward them. I mean, yes he needs Elias to trust him, even for a little, but that's about it. I doubt he has designs on Elias."

"Maybe not, but Elias is falling for Tony. I can see it when he talks about him. Despite what he says, it's how he says it. Like today with Tony's gun and saying it fit Tony's hands and was lighter. Only someone obsessing over another would even notice that."

Marko chuckled. "Or maybe Elias was making a slight at Tony for picking a smaller weapon because he's shorter. From what I've seen in my class of Elias when Tony is remotely nearby, he hates Tony. He acts out in anger, gets flustered easily, and makes stupid moves."

"Isn't that the hallmark of a guy in love? Or at the very least self-loathing enough to hate that he is in love with Tony."

Marko shrugged. "I can't profess to know the inner workings of Elias' mind, but I can tell you that Tony can be used against him in pretty much every sparring match I've had with him. That's how we figured out he was hiding an injury from us. All I had to do was mention Tony's name and then all of a sudden Elias was not guarding correctly and flailing about like a newbie. If anything, Tony is the key to killing Elias."

"Which I can't imagine is a good thing."

"It isn't and I've been hoping to cure that but it's been slow going. The problem is he's seemingly only motivated to press on because of his hatred towards Tony and wanting to beat the shit out of him. Take that away, and we have an operative that isn't very good or driven to succeed."

"Yeah well, Tony isn't helping that. His interference in most things is only sending the wrong message to Elias."

Marko stroked his chin. "Maybe that's the whole point? He's purposely frustrating Elias so he'll continue with that goal. He's egging Elias on so it will keep driving him on."

"But at what ultimate goal? If Elias does get good enough to beat Tony, then what? Tony can't push him along after that."

"I doubt Tony will wait long enough for that. I'm pretty sure things will happen way before Elias is strong enough or even mentally capable of beating Tony one on one."

"So he's what, biding his time until something comes up?"

Marko moved away from Henkka. "Exactly, and really it's in Tony's best interest if he does it that way. Then he can push Elias on later when the hatred is still burning."

*********


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weapons training starts, but the end will ultimately have Elias making a difficult choice.

After a month of rest, Elias was back in Marko's class taking light contact from the more skilled recruits. Any of the newer recruits wouldn't have the control to stop in time so Elias didn't get further hurt.

Marko stopped the class and smiled at the recruits. "Well, we've come much further than I expected us to come. That's a good thing because some of you will start getting field missions as operatives or additional training with Henkka for weapons."

Elias blinked. "We're done?"

Marko laughed at Elias. "Not in the slightest but you're now far enough along to be able to handle yourself should the need arise in the field. I'm still going to teach all of you more advanced moves but that comes after the weapons training."

A frown crossed Elias' face.

Marko looked at the rest of the class. "Think of this as a segue into your next assignments. I still expect all of you to practice what you've learned over the course of the other training. If you need to me to help with things you're still not there on, my room is in the crew quarters on the opposite side. Not to mention I'm usually here practicing by myself or in the weight rooms."

The other recruits muttered between themselves while Elias moved forward to stand in front of Marko. "I've missed classes because of my injury. I'm not at the level you think I am."

"That's true, but you're in the midst of learning weapons training anyway. Trust me, you're more than capable of handling yourself in the field at this point. Hell, you were holding your own with Runov early on without the additional training we've had. That says a lot since not even Tony can do that."

"Still, I'm not confident to hold my own out there without more practice."

Marko's eyebrow rose. "What makes you think Tony would even think about sending you out there to do grunt work? That's for the rest of the class. You'll probably be turned into a sharpshooter like Pasi is. You're way too quick to anger for stealth work."

Elias grit his teeth. "I haven't had an outburst since you found I had cracked my rib."

Marko smiled at the reaction. "And yet, the mention of Tony's name still riles you up. You might want to learn something from the one you hate, check your emotions to the side or just bury them outright like he does. It will serve you better than letting it get the best of you."

"Wasn't the whole point of this training to channel those emotions into actions?"

Marko pulled Elias to the side. "It was, and for a while there you were accomplishing it. The thing is, Tony is a weakness for you that will probably never go away if Tony has his say in it. That's why weapons training is next, to have you focus on the target and not Tony."

Elias' jaw clenched. "I hate that fucker and personally I imagine the target is Tony's chest."

"At least you have the smarts to imagine something as the target."

Elias' hands balled at his sides before he whipped around to confront the sound of the voice. "Give me a weapon right now and I can make it happen for real."

Tony pointed at Elias' hands. "Those are the only weapons you'll need against me. All others are only for men who can't beat someone one on one."

Elias got into a martial arts pose. "Then let's go."

Tony motioned to Marko. "I'm pretty sure Make doesn't want me to damage you further. You're still healing."

"Then let's see if you can get in a punch."

Tony's eyebrow rose, drifting closer to Elias. "Just one punch?"

Elias held his ground. "Just one."

Tony moved into a similar pose with one leg back. "Are you sure about that? I have the control to not injure you further, but I doubt you have the flexibility to anticipate my every move."

Elias grinned. "We'll see."

Tony glanced over at Marko. "Any words of wisdom for your student?"

Marko looked between the two men and laughed. "Viljanen, you don't have a shot in hell of blocking Tony, but I will say that if you can keep Tony off balance for a just a bit you might be able to get a shot in."

"The whole purpose of this is for me to hit him not the other way around."

"Well then, Tony rarely gives any tells of where he's going to attack. It's usually sudden and without warning. He knows you're weak on the left side because of your injury and will put you out of position in order to exploit that weakness."

Elias flexed his arms. "I expect that and I'm prepared."

A smile crossed Tony's face, the first one Elias had ever seen. "Then let's begin."

Elias gaped at it, caught off guard by any emotion coming from Tony.

Tony, in turn, used that to his advantage and hit Elias in the arm without any resistance.

Elias stared down at his arm confused at why it was hurting.

Marko rolled his eyes at Tony. "Leave it to you to distract him with a smile."

Tony shrugged, the smile leaving his face and walking over to Marko. "Didn't you always tell me to use whatever I could to distract my opponent?"

"Good to know you still remember that after all of this time."

Elias glanced up. "That wasn't fair."

Tony turned with a raised eyebrow. "When did anyone say it was going to be fair? You said one punch and that's what I did. Well, more like a tap in this case but still."

"Yes, but how was I supposed to know you would smile at me?"

Marko moved over to Elias to stand in front of him. "That's the whole point, Viljanen. The goal of any fight is to get the upper hand and he did it by doing something out of character for him. It was enough of a distraction for him to get in a punch. Next time you'll ignore such things and focus on the fight."

"I want a rematch."

Tony shrugged. "I have work to do. I've done what you asked of me, you'll have to wait until another time to try again."

"But I didn't get a chance to defend myself."

Tony shuffled over to stand near Elias, looking deep into his brown eyes. "You wouldn't have been able to do it, even if I hadn't used such a cheap trick. I was just making sure you didn't injure yourself more and it seemed like the easiest move to pull off for that."

Elias struck at Tony, which Tony grabbed with little effort. He squeezed Elias' wrist and said, "You're so predictable, Elias. I knew you were going to launch an attack after something like that. Know this, enemies can and will use that against you. Stop acting like a hurt child and start learning to control these childish emotions. They'll only lead you to failure."

Through clenched teeth, Elias spat out, "You know nothing about my past. Stop using it against me."

"I know more than you think and yes I will use it against you until you learn to control your emotions. I'm not expecting you to magically turn into me, but at the very least stop lashing out at me when you were beat."

Elias leaned closer, his chest brushing against Tony's and said, "You only won because of a cheap ploy. Is that all you know how to do?"

Tony shivered inside, unable to stop his body from getting warm at the closeness of Elias' body. He let Elias' wrist go and move back before it overwhelmed him to the point of weakness. "Don't you have training to do? Stop wasting your time with me."

"You're the last thing I want to waste my time on."

Tony took a deep breath before turning to leave.

Marko stood there gaping at what had transpired.

Henkka had been right.

**********

Pasi's eyebrow rose when he spotted Elias storming over to the shooting range. "Are you ok?"

"Fine," said Elias through clenched teeth.

"Doesn't look like you're fine. Did you have trouble with Marko?"

"I'm fine!"

Pasi blinked at Elias.

Elias ducked his head. "Sorry."

"It's fine, but you might want to calm yourself before we get started. Long range shooting is a skill only for those who have the patience to line up their target and wait for the right opportunity. If you're tense, you'll miss the shot."

Elias took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His mind still filled with visions of beating Tony to a pulp, so he tried to bury those within until later.

Pasi studied Elias' posture. "A little bit more in the shoulders. Pretend you're not in this place, somewhere you feel safe and secure. Maybe a forest or a mountain or something like that. Everyone seems to have a different place they imagine when I teach them this."

Elias frowned, unable to think of somewhere he felt safe. It wasn't growing up with his father nor at school or even prison. His life amounted to looking after himself and making sure no one got the better of him.

"What? Can you not think of a safe place?"

Elias looked into Pasi's brown eyes. "I've never felt safe in my life. It's always been a struggle to survive."

Pasi touched Elias' shoulder and smiled. "It's that way for most of us, but instead of that just imagine a place you'd like to be. It can be anything, just as long as it calms you."

Elias imagined being with someone in bed, leaning over to kiss their red lips and holding them close. He couldn't see their face but their lips tasted like nothing he'd ever had.

"Good, that's much better. Now let's try shooting."

Elias moved over to the booth and put the earphones over his head. He wondered whose lips he had been kissing but he pushed it out of his head for now.

Pasi handed Elias a medium sized rifle with one long sight on the top of it.

Elias took the gun, pulling out the bullet clip to inspect it and then putting it back in. He looked down the long hallway for the target, leaning down on the platform in front of him to look down the sight in order to aim. It had been blurry in the distance, a good several hundred feet away, but now it appeared to be right in front of him.

Pasi tapped on his arm to signal him to fire.

Elias took a deep breath and fired the rifle. The kickback still jolted him a little, but not as much as the handguns or assault rifles had in the past.

Pasi flicked a switch to bring the target to them. He studied the shot, which was right of center. "Hmmm, your aim is still veering to the right for some reason. Maybe try to position yourself a little more right on the platform."

Elias flushed and moved more to the right. He waited for Pasi to reload the target with a new one and then fired again when Pasi gave him the signal.

The target came whirling towards them, this time even further to the right.

Pasi loaded another target and took the rifle out of Elias' hands to aim for it.

Elias thought Pasi was trying to make him look bad until he saw where the shot had gone when the target came over to them. He gaped at the missed shot to the right.

Pasi pulled out of the bullet clip. He undid the latch to open the gun up, peering down the barrel.

"Is there something making it do that? I can't imagine you'd miss a target too."

"I thought there was, but there's nothing inside the barrel impeding it." He popped it back together and replaced the clip. With his arm stretched, he looked down the top of the barrel. "Ah, there we go. It's out of alignment and rifles can become warped depending on how they're kept or used. I don't know the history of this one, but it's definitely not useable anymore. I'll go take it back to Henkka for another."

Elias waited for Pasi to come back, wondering how that conversation between him and Henkka would go. Would Henkka get angry with Pasi for saying he hadn't been checking his guns like Tony had before?

Pasi returned a few minutes later. "Apparently Henkka was trying to prove a point with something Tony said last month. He purposely gave us a bad rifle in order to see how long it would take for us to figure it out."

"Isn't that dangerous? What if we used that gun in the field?"

"That would have never happened. Henkka wouldn't have allowed it out in the first place. He was going to destroy it until he got the idea of replacing it here. Though I gave him a piece of my mind about something like that."

Elias' eyebrow rose. "You actually got mad at him?"

"No, just letting him know my feelings on the matter."

Elias laughed, taking the new rifle out of Pasi's hands. "Somehow, you don't strike me as being the type to ever lose your cool. It's no wonder you're the top sharpshooter."

"I don't see the point of getting mad at every little thing. Though I will state my opinion on something if it's needed."

"I kind of envy that. I don't know what it would be like to go through life that mellow. I think I'd explode over time if I kept it all in."

Pasi smiled. "Is that what you think I do? For the record, I do let things out. Being here in the shooting range is a place for me to relax and focus on the task at hand. It's very calming."

Elias grinned, leaning over the platform with the rifle. "I'll take your word for it."

*********

After his training with Pasi, Elias moved out of the shooting range and over to Henkka's domain for some more equipment training. He stopped short when he could feel someone's eyes on him and looked up, expecting to see Tony watching him.

Instead, it was a man in a black suit with flaming red hair.

Elias frowned at the man staring at him, unsure who he was or even why he was bothering to watch Elias so closely.

Henkka called out from his area. "Get over here, Viljanen. I don't have time to waste!"

Elias ducked his head, finally taking his eyes off the man above. He scurried over to Henkka and apologized.

Henkka dragged Elias to the back storage room and whispered, "Don't make the mistake of watching our leader for any longer than you have to. He's not one to be trifled with."

"That redhead above is our leader? He doesn't look like I expected him to be."

"What did you expect him to be? Big and burly?"

Elias shrugged. "Maybe but more intimidating I guess. He just looks like a normal guy with really red hair."

"Yeah well, that normal guy holds your life in the balance. Not even Tony can give the order to eliminate you, it has to come from our leader. It's best to avoid him unless he sends for you."

**********

Tony entered their leader's room. "You sent for me?"

The leader was looking at the computer screen in front of him. "Yes, it's to ask about Viljanen's progress."

"He's been progressing along. Pasi says he's getting more accurate for target practice and Henkka reports he's learning all of the other gear we use."

The leader glanced up. "Do you think he's ready for another mission?"

Tony hesitated, unsure of what mission would fit Elias right now.

"It's a simple question, just answer yes or no."

"Yes, I believe he is depending on what mission it might be. More undercover work?"

The leader got up from his desk to stand in front of Tony. "No, he's going to be taking out an enemy at a distance. Stefano Elgante was spotted outside of Helsinki, possibly visiting family or friends in the area. We rarely get a chance to corner him as he's usually guarded by an army of men."

Tony's jaw clenched, remembering back to past missions where he slipped right through their fingers and made fools out of them.

"No doubt you remember him well as I believe your first mission as a team leader was for taking him out."

Tony winced. "While he made a fool of me in the process. Are we sure it's a clear shot?"

"No, but we might as well try. He's in our home country and therefore easy to access."

"Very well. Do you want me to work with Tommy on a mission profile?"

The leader returned to sit behind his desk. "Yes, please do. I have other things to attend at the moment and will look in on your progress later."

Tony turned to leave, uncertainty brewing deep inside.

*********

Tommy was chatting with his crew when Tony arrived. He glanced up at him. "I assume you've heard the good news. Or maybe that's bad news since we've tried to go after this man several times before?"

Tony pushed his emotions to the side and responded, "What kind of intel do we have on his visit? Is it with family or friends? Or maybe a business deal?"

The black haired kid named Malainen nodded. "We've scanned the area and it appears to be a two-story house in the outskirts of Helsinki. I looked up the registered owner and they share the same name as Stefano Elgante. Then I looked further and it appears to be owned by his daughter and her fiancé."

Tony let out a trapped breath. "Ok, so what kind of layout does the house have? Trees and high scrubs? Open field?"

"A mix of the two. The front is mostly high scrubs and trees while the backyard has an open area for looking at the nearby lake."

Tommy interrupted Malainen to say, "The only problem with the backyard is having a place for our operative to hide and accomplish his task. There's not enough cover. Likewise, the front area is too tall for us to get a good shot of Elgante."

Tony pointed at the display. "Show me a map of the house."

Malainen brought a 3D map of the house. He changed the angle. "There's the front with the high scrubs." He flicked the image and it turned to the other side. "And there's the back with a view of the lake."

Tony peered down at the images. "Hmmm, you're right there isn't much in the way of cover. What does the neighborhood look like? Lots of houses?"

Malainen brought up a street layout by the house. "There are only two houses close enough for us to look out from. Both are occupied by families with children."

Tony pointed at the closest house to the north. "What's the backyard look like for that one?"

The image turned to show a small backyard with a few kids toys on the ground.

"Now configure it to see what kind of sightline we're looking at from that backyard."

Tommy smiled when the sight matched a perfect trajectory to the backyard. "There we go. We need to be in the corner of that backyard."

Tony leaned down to type out something on Malainen's keyboard. "Actually we just need to be right there."

Tommy blinked at the large shrub along the outside of the backyard. "That's even better. It's an easy escape for our man instead of dealing with those inside while trying to line up their target. Pasi will be overjoyed as he doesn't have to do much other than wait for the perfect shot."

"It's won't be Pasi this time. Our leader wants Elias to do it."

Tommy glanced up to stare at Tony. "You can't be serious? This is the first solid opportunity to take him out we've had in years. It's not something you give to a new recruit."

"It's not my decision to make. Elias has been getting better with his long-range skills from what I've heard from Pasi. Plus we might take Pasi along anyway just in case there's a problem."

"I believe Viljanen will succeed with this. It's a true test if he can do as we ask."

Both turned to face their leader.

The leader motioned to Malainen's display. "I see we have a plan of attack?"

Tommy looked over at Tony before answering. "We were about to fine tune it. Tony discovered that if Elias stands inside the shrub on the corner of the next door property, he'll have a clear shot of the backyard." He turned to point at the backyard on the screen. "All we need is for Elgante to walk in this area at any time and we'd have a shot in taking him out. The problem is, waiting for said shot to appear. It could be minutes or hours. Or even days."

"Then we'll need to send out a reconnaissance team ahead of time. The weather appears to be clearing up at the end of the week. If we can plan it on a sunny day or even one without rain, they might be tempted to gather in the backyard. Once they do, we will move into action."

Tony gaped at their leader. "You want us to go within a week? I doubt Elias will be trained enough for that. I mean, yes he's excelling at his targets but in a week's time?"

"That can't be helped. We have the opportunity to take down Stefano Elgante and this is the first we've had in a long time. It needs to happen before he leaves."

"Elias isn't ready for it. Besides being good at shooting in our range, there are other variables to take into account like wind speed which we can't replicate here. You might as well use Pasi as he would be able to figure out all of that in a couple seconds."

The leader's eyebrow rose. "Why are you so resistant to using Viljanen?"

Tony hesitated before answering, knowing full well that any answer he gave would be scrutinized later.

"Why is Viljanen so important to you? Any other recruit and this wouldn't be an issue."

"It just seems to be a setup for failure like this. Elias has the training, but only in a controlled environment. Is he ready enough for something like this and what happens if he fails? Is he eliminated?"

Their leader smiled wide at Tony, making Tony's skin crawl at the sight of it. "You have little faith in Viljanen. I've seen the target practice footage and the results of it. He's damn near a perfect marksman, almost on par with Pasi. Sure, he needs training in the field, but we can replicate that too."

"We can?"

"Yes, we can." The leader moved over to Tommy. "Pull up the area behind the decontamination building."

Tommy said to Malainen, "Do as he asks."

Malainen pulled up an image of a small metal building on the screen. He manipulated the image to make it turn the other way.

The leader pointed at the grassy overgrowth behind it. "There, have Pasi take Elias to that field to get used to crouching with the rifle and aiming in weather conditions."

"Is that wise aiming into an open field?"

The leader turned to Tony. "We own the lands around it. No one will see anything. Especially since Pasi will be taking Elias at early dawn."

Tony folded his arms across his chest. "I want to be there while they're doing it. I don't trust Elias to not try and escape into an open field."

"Do what you feel is necessary, but I believe a few times in the field like that will help Elias accomplish his goal. He's already hitting the target three out of four attempts. He will be successful in taking out Stefano Elgante."

***********

Tony headed over to the crew quarters to find Elias sparring with Forcin while the others watched on. He rose an eyebrow when Elias took Forcin down with a move he hadn't seen in a long time. Marko tried it on Tony years ago and it fooled him at first, but once Marko used it again Tony was able to block it.

One of the other recruits noticed Tony standing there and tried to intervene in the fight.

Forcin and Elias turned around to face Tony. Elias scoffed, "How appropriate that you show up."

Tony motioned to Forcin. "You'll have to spar with Viljanen later. He needs to be briefed for a new mission."

Elias blinked. "Another one?"

"Yes, come with me to discuss it. Unlike last time, this will be a solo mission."

Forcin moved toward Tony. "Why him? I've been here longer than he has and have more training than he does. Why is Elias so special now?"

Tony turned to look at Forcin. "That's not my decision to make, our leader asked for Elias specifically. Trust me, I would have preferred to use someone else for this kind of mission. Especially with a man who has escaped our grasp before, but if the leader requests Elias then so be it. Don't worry about not being chosen, you will be later on for another mission in a month."

Forcin shuffled back with the others and said, "Good luck, Viljanen. You'll probably need it."

**********

Elias sat down in the chair opposite Tony's desk. "So a solo undercover mission?"

Tony booted up his computer and started to type. "No, this is an optimizing mission."

"Optimizing? Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

Tony typed more into his computer before swinging it around for Elias to see. "This the man you will take out."

Elias stared at the grainy image of a man in his late sixties. "Who the hell is that?"

"Stefano Elgante. Among other things he's known for running sex slave rings, prostitution, and selling children to the highest bidder."

Elias' face twisted in anger. "What an asshole."

"Indeed, and that's why we want you to take him out. We've had many chances in the past but he managed to slip through our fingers. At the moment he's visiting his daughter's house outside of Helsinki which means he'll be distracted and therefore easy to pick off."

Elias looked up from the photo. "Pick off? I don't understand."

"I shouldn't have to explain it any further than that. You know what I mean, Elias."

Elias sat back in his chair. "Murder him?"

"Bingo, and do it without alerting attention to your position in the process. This will be a long-range assassination with a rifle. Pasi has been training you so it should be an easy mission if we manage to get the right opportunity."

Elias stared down at his hands, frowning at them. "I don't know if I can take a life, even a waste of space like that. I told you the first time we met."

"You don't have a choice. The leader specifically asked for you to be the one. Me, I would have picked Pasi in a heartbeat as this is his bread and butter."

"Why me? Did I do something to piss him off?"

Tony turned the screen back toward him. "That I don't know, but when he asks for someone there's usually a reason. Maybe he feels you're ready to make your first kill. Once you've done it the first time, it gets easier the next time. It's not exactly a pleasant job but what is here?"

"So there's no way of getting out of this?"

"Yes, but you'd have to die for that to work."

Elias' frown deepened.

"Think of it this way, you're saving a lot of people in the long run. The more of these types of men that are eliminated from the world, the fewer people who are trafficked for sex or other things."

Elias shook his head. "You make it sound like a public service announcement, but it's straight up murder and you know it."

"Well yes, but this man doesn't deserve to further his agendas. He's already murdered or enslaved over a thousand people over the years. Those who survived initially are probably dead now at the hands of their owners or died trying to escape. It's all about taking someone out that doesn't offer anything of value to anyone other than his despicable customers."

Elias got up to pace around the office.

"If it makes you feel any better, there will be a few practice runs for it with Pasi. Mostly to get you used to shooting with the elements like sun and wind. Since it will start at dawn, it's the best time for it."

Elias stared at Tony. "Practice runs? So I'm killing others?"

"No, just targets in the distance. I'm guessing Pasi will bring a dummy or something else to simulate a living target. It's a shame we don't have moving targets or you'd be able to practice lining up the rifle for the best shot."

Elias slumped down in the chair. "I can't do this."

"You don't have a choice. Refusing an order by the leader marks you for death."

Elias looked Tony in the eye and said, "I'd rather that than kill someone."

Tony got up from his desk, moving around it to kneel beside Elias' chair. "Look, I know it's not ideal but it's not like you're going to be doing this full time. It's only a test to see if you can do it, not to set you up for a career of bumping people off."

Elias blinked at Tony's lack of dominance in the situation. "Why are you so desperate for me to do this?"

Tony bit his lip. "Because it has to happen for other things to occur later. Just do this for me, Elias, even if you don't want to. It needs to happen for it to start the process."

"What things?"

Tony got up from the floor to look down at Elias. "Things that will come to pass later. I know I'm not giving you much and we've had our differences in the past, but I'm begging you to go forward with this mission, even if you don't think you'll be able to finish it."

Elias was about to protest further when he caught the look of desperation in Tony's eyes. "This goes against everything I value in life, but I'll do it. Though you owe me later."

Tony sat down at his desk. "I know, and I will deliver on that when the time comes."

**********


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias' second mission begins. Will he be successful or will it go wrong in an instant?

Elias waited for Pasi by the hallway connecting to the van. He was probably early because no one was waiting for him to arrive. Leaning against the wall, he sighed to himself and wondered if this kind of training was needed. You just line up your sight and fire. What was the point of doing it outside at the crack of dawn?

"Pasi is already in the van. Get going."

Elias frowned at Tony, who was decked out in the same black outfit Elias had seen so many months ago. "I didn't see him walk by and why are you here?"

Tony shoved Elias forward into the hallway. "I'm here to make sure you don't make a break for it while outside."

Elias shrugged off Tony's hand and walked down the hallway. "Where the hell would I go? I don't even know where we are other than somewhere in Finland but close enough to have some Russians nearby."

"You should know the answer to that since you've already figured out most of it."

Elias climbed into the back of the van Pasi stood beside. "We're in eastern Finland?"

Pasi smiled and sat next to Elias. "Yep, close to the border actually. I figured that out based on how long it takes to get to specific places. With the van windows blacked out, it's the only logical choice for figuring it out."

Tony closed the door, moving over the walled off area behind the driver and knocking.

The van started moving, jiggling all three men a little.

*********

Elias frowned when the van stopped after what appeared to be ten minutes. "That was fast."

Tony motioned to Pasi, who opened the side door. He looked over at Elias with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

Elias shrugged and got out of his seat.

Tony frowned at it and exited the van. He shuffled over to where Pasi and Elias were standing. They looked out into the vast tall grass plain.

Elias turned to Pasi. "So this is where we're going to practice? Won't someone notice that we're firing bullets out here?"

Pasi pulled out a smaller rifle to hand to Elias. "Nope, we supposedly own all of the fields around this. Besides who is actually up at 4:00am on a Tuesday anyway?"

Elias followed Pasi through a patch of grass, wincing the long grass started to wet his pants with morning's dew.

Tony shuffled behind them but stopped when Pasi picked out a site for Elias to crouch. He looked at the trees that surrounded the empty plot of land and sighed. One movement and he could be gone through the trees and out of here once and for all.

Except they would find him.

No matter how far he'd run, they'd find him in time. If they could find the lairs of some of the most wanted criminals, they could find a rogue operative.

Tony shook his head, trying to push ideas of escapes out of his head. He'd been thinking about it a lot and it worried him that he might just try something stupid like walking away from a mission.

They expected recruits to try something so foolhardy but not seasoned veterans like Tony. It would sign his death warrant if he even hinted at wanting to leave. They would hunt him down until his last breath and that wasn't what Tony wanted at all.

No, if he truly wanted out, there needed to be a better plan of action than just walking into some trees.

But did he truly want out?

They fed him, clothed him, gave him weapons to kill others with, and ways to torture new recruits. Why would he want to leave something like that?

Tony turned back to observe Pasi placing something in the distance for Elias to shoot at. It appeared to be some kind of dummy propped up against a wooden frame. He squinted at the face on the dummy. It looked familiar but it was just far enough away from him to see it clearly.

Elias laid on his belly on the wet grass and aimed the rifle at the target while looking down the sight. He called out to Pasi. "Whose face is that?"

Pasi yelled out in response. "You'll find out later!"

Elias aimed for the head of the face and fired. The gun jumped a little in his arms.

Pasi waved his hand in the air, moving over to inspect the picture. "Not bad! Though remember what I told you about wind and aiming. Make sure you're accounting for it. In other words, you're too far to the right."

Elias aimed again once Pasi had moved far enough away. He tilted the gun over to the left a little when he felt the wind blow a little behind him. The rifle fired again, this time not jostling Elias as much.

Pasi waved his hand and inspected the picture again. "Perfect! Right in the temple, exactly where you should be hitting. You want to take him out as fast as possible and a headshot is the best way."

Tony moved over to where Elias was, kneeling down and taking the gun out of his hands. He looked down the sight to see just what Elias had been shooting at. When he pulled the rifle back down, he glared at Pasi. "Where the hell did you get that?"

Pasi chuckled, removing the dummy from the stand and calling out, "Let's just say Tommy is good with computers and always has time for some research!"

Tony handed the rifle back to Elias. "Looks like you're ready. Though keep in mind it will probably be sunny on that day. Be sure Henkka gives you some sunglasses to cut down on the glare."

Elias got up from the ground. "Whose picture was that?"

"It's mine. When I first arrived here."

Elias looked at the face on the dummy when Pasi got closer to the van. "That doesn't even look like you. That's a skinny nerd."

Pasi chuckled and put the dummy in the back area.

Tony glared at Elias. "Yeah well, this skinny nerd has the power to have you killed. Don't forget that."

"Henkka said you don't have the power to do that."

Tony shoved Elias toward the open side door. "That he knows of. There are ways to make things happen that don't go through the chain of command."

Elias turned to look Tony in the eyes. "Somehow I doubt you'd bother to go through the trouble. You strike me as a person who would end up shooting me in my sleep because you could."

"Then you don't know me at all. There's no fun in killing a defenseless man."

**********

It was the day before the mission and Elias couldn't sleep. Instead, he wandered over to the workout area in hopes of making himself tired with the treadmill or weights.

That is until he heard someone scream out in pain.

Elias raced over to the treadmills to find Tony kneeling down with hands covering over his ears. He balked at the out of character behavior from Tony, usually he showed no emotions at all.

Tony shook his head and called out, "Shut up! Leave me alone!"

Elias reached out to touch Tony's arm, thinking maybe he was having some kind of sleepwalking episode. He'd had a friend that used to do that on occasion which would freak out his parents.

Tears formed in Tony's eyes. "Please stop. Please...."

Elias shook Tony's arm. "Tony? Tony! Can you hear me?"

Tony removed his hands from his head, sitting down on the treadmill bed and trying to get his breathing back to normal.

Elias kneeled down beside him. "Tony?"

Tony glanced up, turning pale. "Elias?"

"What the hell happened? You were screaming out to stop. Were you having a nightmare?"

Tony pushed himself off the treadmill, trying to regain some sort of composure. "It was nothing. Don't trouble yourself with it."

Elias frowned at the fear written all over Tony's face. "It doesn't look like nothing. I know we're not exactly best friends, but if this is something that will screw you up later I need to know about it."

"You don't need to know about anything, Viljanen. Get back to bed."

Elias groaned and looked behind Tony to spot Marko. He motioned to Tony. "Something is wrong with him. I have a right to know what so he doesn't get me killed because of it."

Tony shook his head. "It won't interfere with that. Just do as Marko says, go back to bed. We have a mission tomorrow."

Elias winced at the look of anger on Marko's face, walking away from them without a word.

All the while wondering what was really happening with Tony.

**********

Marko shuffled over to Tony once Elias had gone into the general crew quarters. He studied Tony's failed attempts at trying to compose himself. "It's getting worse, isn't it?"

Tony swallowed hard and nodded.

"I guess you don't need me to tell you what will happen if this continues to go on? Elias is right, it could very well cost someone their life if you break down during a mission."

"It won't happen on a mission. It only happens when I'm trying to relax and clear my mind. I still can't figure out who the voices are. Are they kids from school? Are they men from prison? Or somewhere else?"

"Does it matter?"

Tony stared down at his hands. "Probably not. I just have to get Elias through a few more missions and then maybe he'll be ready. It won't be long now."

Marko touched Tony's shoulder. "You're still going with the plan? Are you sure about this?"

Tony looked into Marko's eyes. "I have to, Make. If all goes according to plan, even you will benefit from this. The last thing I want is to leave both of you in a lurch."

Marko smiled. "Don't worry about us. I'm sure Henkka will succeed, even without Tommy's help."

"It's not Henkka's abilities I'm worried about, it's more if we can succeed with the plan. If we don't, it could cost all of our lives."

**********

Elias paced around the van area for the rest of the team. He was too early, but he couldn't sleep any longer. Nervous energy ran through him and he couldn't stop shaking.

He was going to do it - take the life of another person.

Granted the man was a complete monster and probably deserved to die at this point. Was it really up to this organization to carry out such things?

A snort rang out from the doorway. "Stop overthinking it. Just pull the damn trigger when we give you the signal."

Elias rolled his eyes at Tony's appearance. "Shouldn't you be sitting on your ass in the control room?"

Tony moved over to stand in front of Elias. "I kept you alive last time and I will do the same this time. There's no need for me to be there, I'm not your mommy to baby you through everything in life."

Elias' hands clenched. "Don't talk about my mother like that."

"You didn't even meet her, dying when you were born. What does it matter?"

Elias shoved Tony away from him. "It means something to me!"

"Good, then focus on the mission at hand. Then she doesn't have to watch her dumb son get himself killed on a simple mission."

"Bullshit. Pasi and Henkka told me you've fucked up trying to take this guy out multiple times. Sounds like you're not man enough to actually do it yourself this time."

Tony's jaw clenched. "I did not fuck up. I did everything according to plan in all of the previous times, he found out via a mole who has been eliminated. Now he doesn't have such things and we have the upper hand on him."

"So you assume. My luck your arrogance is going to get me killed just to cover up your shortcomings."

Tony shoved Elias hard against the van, knocking the wind out of him. "Shut up! I am your superior and you will respect me as such."

Elias stumbled back to his feet and glared at Tony. "Leave it to you to take out your frustration on others."

"Now that you've got Viljanen ready for the mission, we can take it from here."

The anger sighed out of Tony's body with the sound of Henkka's voice. He moved away from Elias without a word, bypassing a stunned Pasi and Henkka.

*********

Tony stumbled into his office, tapping out the passcode and dropping to his knees. He held onto the wall as tears filled his eyes.

He was losing control.

For so long, it had been easy to just push it all to the side, but now the slightest thing was sending him over the edge.

The last thing he needed was Elias having a way to control him with his fluctuating emotions.

He had to keep it together. It would be all over soon, he just had to get to that point first. The closer it appeared, the stronger the emotions inside pulled at him. They were ready to end this once and for all and yet there were still things that needed to come together first.

A beep sounded in his office followed by the voice of Tommy, "Tony? The mission will begin soon."

Tony rubbed at his face to clear away the tears that had fallen. He called out to the room, trying to hide the raw emotion in his voice, "I'll be there in a few minutes."

Tommy didn't respond back to him, as there was nothing needed to say further at this point. The van had only just left and would be at the airport in a few minutes, so it was a matter of waiting for the helicopter to reach Helsinki and that was an hour off at this point.

Now was just staking out the house that held Stefano Elgante to make sure he didn't leave before they arrived. Tommy's team would already be doing that, so having Tony there didn't really make sense unless their leader had requested it.

Tony used his desk as a brace to get to his feet. He leaned against the wall by the door for support and tried to get his emotions back in check. With his hands, he rubbed at his chest to stop it from tightening.

He just needed a little more time that was all.

**********

Elias blinked at the long, empty strip of land as he stepped outside of the van. "Where are we?"

Henkka grabbed Elias by the arm. "Come on, they're waiting for us."

Elias looked around at nothing surrounding them. "Who is waiting for us?"

Pasi chuckled, shouldering the rifles and bullets. "Our ride."

They didn't have to walk long from the van when a helicopter swooped down to their position.

Elias studied the all black helicopter with no markings on it. "A helicopter? To Helsinki?"

Henkka ducked under the whirling blades above. "It's going to be a tight fit, but it will have to do."

With the help of the pilot, Pasi rigged the bags to the bottom of the helicopter. He followed Henkka and Elias into the back of it.

Elias winced, smashing into the right side as Pasi pushed them both to the side. "Not much room for three people."

The pilot laughed, maneuvering the helicopter into the air again. "This ain't some pleasure cruise, rookie. We have to get to Stefano Elgante before he decides to make a break for it. The fastest way is by helicopter."

"Yes, but won't he hear this thing from a distance?"

The pilot turned sharply for the direction of Helsinki. "Obviously, which is why you three are going to be dropped off ten minutes outside of where you need to be. A van will be waiting for you three."

Henkka nudged Elias. "Put your communicator in. Tony might have new intel for us before we get there."

Elias put the small device behind his right ear like last time. He expected Tony to be chewing him out for whatever reason but it was silent. "Mine's not working."

Henkka chuckled. "They haven't said anything yet. Patience, Elias. It's actually better to pass the time in silence than have Tony complaining at you the whole way like last time."

Elias thought back to what happened earlier. He'd pushed back at Tony before, but not enough to get Tony riled up for him to shove Elias hard against the van. 

Something was wrong with Tony and he couldn't figure out what.

*********

Tony came into the communications area and stood behind Malainen. "Report."

Tommy turned to gape at Tony's disheveled appearance.

Tony looked around. "Report!"

Malainen swallowed hard. "We're monitoring the house Stefano Elgante is in. I believe they're preparing for a party outside."

Tony glanced over at Tommy who was still staring at him. "Something on your mind, Portimo?"

Tommy frowned at the use of his last name. "I could ask you the same, Kakko."

"I'm fine. Just had a few things to clear up before the mission. What's the status of our helicopter?"

Marksson spoke up, "I'm monitoring it now. It's about halfway to the destination. The van is already at the meetup point waiting for it to arrive."

Tony let out a trapped breath. "Good, keep your eyes out for anything weird at the meetup location. I don't want to take any chances of being ambushed before the helicopter arrives."

Marksson frowned. "Has that happened before?"

Tommy looked over at Tony before answering. "Yes, it has. Stefano Elgante learned of it ahead of time and our men slaughtered before getting a chance to take him down. Tony is right, monitor for anything out of the ordinary like vans or cars parked along the roads. They could contain some of his men staking it out."

Marksson pulled up area maps around the location to scout it out.

**********

Elias looked down at the open field as the helicopter lowered to the ground. A lone, unmarked black van sat off to the side among the tall grass.

The pilot landed the helicopter and switched off the engine. He turned to face the three men. "Time to go. I'm in contact with the central command and they'll let me know if I have to do an emergency pickup. If not, you'll meet me back here to take you back to the base."

Elias blinked. "An emergency pickup?"

The pilot laughed. "Yeah, where I pick you three up from the ground in a hurry. Usually during heavy gunfire, it seems but maybe I'll get lucky and not have that this time around."

Elias' eyes widened.

Henkka chuckled at it and waved at the pilot. "See ya later."

Pasi climbed out to undo the cargo attached to the backside of the helicopter and took it over to the waiting van.

Elias swallowed hard before exiting the helicopter.

Soon it would be time to kill someone.

*********

"The helicopter has landed and the men and gear are being transferred over. I haven't seen anything nearby to indicate someone is watching them."

Tony let out the trapped breath in his chest. "Good, maybe we can finish our mission this time around." He tapped the console to talk into Pasi, Henkka, and Elias' ears. "Proceed to the next step. Your target location is ten minutes away."

A snort rang out in Tony's ear. "It's about time you showed up, Tony. I thought you were going to let me wing it by myself."

Tony rolled his eyes at Elias' comment. "Henkka and Pasi know what they're doing and will help you out as needed. I'm only here to provide intel relating to the job, nothing more."

"I doubt that. I'm sure you'll find a way to make me feel like garbage at some point."

Henkka's voice cut in, "Tony, anything else before we head out?"

Tony tried to ignore Elias' slight and answered Henkka, "Not as yet. We haven't found anything that would impede our progress. Proceed as described."

"Got it."

Tony could hear shuffling of Henkka pushing Elias toward the van and cussing him out for saying stuff like that to his superior with others listening in. Truth is, only Tony could hear it and he was used to it.

He just hoped Elias wouldn't screw things up further in the heat of the moment.

That's all he needed at this point.

**********

The ride to the suburbs of Helsinki was unremarkable. Pasi and Henkka kept telling Elias it would be fine but it wasn't fine.

He was about to murder someone in cold blood. It wasn't even an honorable way to do it, hiding out in some bush to take the shot to end his life.

Elias flashed back to Tony's office when Tony begged him to do this mission, that it would be important later. He wasn't sure what it all meant but the desperation in Tony's voice was enough for him to agree initially.

Now he wasn't so sure that had been a good idea in the first place.

Tony wouldn't be the one pulling the trigger, Elias was. What would happen if Elias missed? What about if he froze and couldn't shoot?

Would that mean the end of his life?

Pasi gripped Elias' shoulder. "You're thinking too much. Just aim and pull the trigger, Elias, it's as simple as that."

Elias shook his head. "No, it's not. I'm taking someone's life. Doesn't that bother you?"

"None of the people we kill have much in the way of redeeming qualities anyway. Half the time they're smuggling drugs, kids or women. Most end up in horrible conditions that maybe taking out the head of the organization will help."

Elias stared at the houses in the distance. "I don't know if I can do it, Pasi."

"You have to or you'll end up getting put on suicide missions later. Trust me, Elias, the first time is always the worst one. After that, it becomes easier."

Elias looked down at the ground. "I didn't do what I was sent to prison for. They said I killed a man while trying to escape from the office explosion. I was framed."

"You were? Why didn't you say anything?"

Elias thought back to the trial. "Those assholes that used to be my friends framed me. Pretty sure their lawyers were in on it as well, just to get them a smaller sentence than me. In the end, both died in prison trying to evade a rape gang. Served them right."

"Still, most of us hadn't killed anyone before we got here. I didn't, that's for sure. Henkka and I were thieves, caught stealing something very valuable because we didn't take any precautions. We made our own stealth gear and managed to steal upwards of a half million euros worth of stuff before they found us. We were just stupid kids."

Elias smiled. "Somehow that seems fitting for both of you. Henkka the nerdy guy making gadgets and you as the thief."

Henkka nudged Elias' back with his elbow. "I stole too. We'd swap off most times. Pasi was great in the art galleries because he was tall enough to lift the expensive paintings off the wall without triggering alarms. I was the one squeezing into tight places to steal stuff from safes. In the end, we were too greedy and landed in prison."

"That we did, but we didn't serve very long before Tony came to get us. We were one of the few taken at the same time. Usually Tony just takes one per mission, but for some reason both of us came with him. It was better than fighting off assholes trying to touch Henkka."

Henkka shivered. "Don't remind me of those assholes. They're the reason I slept with a shiv in my hand every night. I almost sliced Tony up when he came for me. Though he was already fairly trained by Make by that point to dodge it."

Elias stared at Henkka. "Marko was already there before you two? He doesn't strike me as being older than either of you."

“He isn’t. We’re all the same age but he came here as a teen after beating someone to death in an underground fighting ring. Cops busted the place as he was doing it and charged him with assault at first and then with murder when the guy died the next morning. Even as an eighteen year old, Make was someone you didn't want to trifle with. From what I heard of his prison days, no one fucked with him at all during his three months in there. They were too scared of him.”

“Did Tony get him as well?”

Henkka grinned wide. “He did and got his ass handed to him in the process. It was Tony’s first mission to break someone out and he was unprepared for Make to say the least. Marko ended up trying to escape after knocking Tony out by his prison cell. He was met with ten men wielding shotguns outside and decided to surrender under one condition.”

Elias’ eyebrow rose. “And what was that?”

“That he’d get to beat the shit out of people still. They made him the weaponless trainer almost immediately because of his superior fighting skills. At first, he was just trying to kick the crap out of people for kicks, but then he figured out that if he trained them they might actually put up a decent fight. Hence how his part of the training program came to be. I’m sure you can guess who his first student was.”

A voice came through their ears. “It was me. I wasn’t going to get humiliated on a mission like that again. That said, enough with the chatting and get to your positions. The party is about to begin.”

Elias blinked. “Party?”

“Yes, a party with Stefano Elgante in attendance on the deck. It’s a perfect place to pick him off.”

Elias swallowed hard.

Pasi patted Elias’ arm. “Come on, let’s get you set up.”

Elias glanced over at Henkka, who looked at him with worry.

It was going to be a long day.

***********

Tony watched Pasi shuffle over to where they had picked out as a good shooting spot. He thought back to the mission to retrieve Marko so long ago, thanks to their conversation earlier.

Marko had taken Tony down immediately, without warning and knocking Tony unconscious before he even hit the ground. He never gave Tony the option to fight back, instead leaving him to rot.

Tony's jaw clenched at the memories of the senior operatives laughing at his failed attempt in the van back to the headquarters after he'd woken up.

He vowed to never fail like that again. In the process, he endured thousands of hours of training with Marko beating the crap out of him until he learned to defend himself.

He remembered the moment he was finally able to beat Marko, relishing in the joy of taking him down after almost a year of training. Marko got up from the ground and smiled at Tony, saying he was proud of him for going through it all and to still coming back for more.

That was the only fulfilling moment in his life up until that point. His childhood was a mess and the aftermath even more so. Leave it to be a moment of defeating someone to bring some joy to his heart at last.

Marko warned him at the time to never stop training, that being on your toes was the difference between life or death in the field. He took that message to heart, training and making sure his body was in top shape.

The future was unknown, but Tony wanted to be prepared for anything and everything.

Tommy snapped his fingers in front of Tony's face. "Tony? Did you hear me?"

Tony straightened his stance. "No, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just letting you know Stefano Elgante has been spotted on the patio."

Tony flicked the switch to call to their leader. "Stefano Elgante is in sight."

The leader's voice came through his headset. "Good, proceed."

"You're not coming down to watch the proceedings?"

"No, I trust you have everything under control. I can see the feed from my office and that will suffice. Unless you need me down there?"

Tony's body relaxed at the idea of his leader not being nearby. "No, just confirming."

"Remember Tony, patience is the key for today. We will have plenty of opportunities; the trick is to pick one without taking others out at the same time. Make sure Viljanen knows this as well."

Tony's hands clenched at his sides, hating that their leader had to remind him of such a thing. It harkened back to when Tony failed the last few times, and he didn't need to be reminded of that. His own brain did that when he slept. "Understood."

"Good luck."

Tony flicked the switch and steadied himself for whatever might occur.

Just like Marko had taught him.

*********

Elias squatted in the overgrown bush and waited. Pasi told him to be patient, wait for the shot and then take it. 

The idea was that Stefano Elgante needed to be away from others before taking the shot. Needless deaths were not an option in this case as only Stefano Elgante was the target.

A voice talked in Elias' ear. "Try to wait until Elgante is in the far side of the patio. That's the best place without him being near others."

Elias frowned at the voice. "Pasi?"

"Yeah, we're all interconnected and I'm mostly here to help you along. The sooner it's done, the sooner we can go back to the base and you don't have to think about it anymore. Though make sure you have the right shot first."

Another voice cut in. "In other words, there's no room for missed shots. Thankfully, Stefano Elgante is not moving around much in the small patio area. It's a captive space and therefore an easy shot when he's away from others."

Elias rolled his eyes at Tony's voice. "You're not helping, Tony. I know what I need to do, I just wish I didn't have to do it all."

"As I've said before, it wasn't my idea. Our leader asked for you specifically."

Elias scoffed. "You could stand up to him for once and refuse."

"Or you could. Don't pass the blame on me for not being able to stand on your own. The only reason Pasi is there at all is to clean up the mess if you fuck up. Remember that."

Pasi's voice cut in again. "Which you won't do. I believe in you, Elias, even if they don't. I know you can make the shot and take him out with little effort. I also know you're conflicted with this, but there is no other option to take him out. He's rarely in public at all, so we have to take our chance when we get it. I know you will do that."

"Why are you so sure? I've never even done this before with a real target."

"Because that's my job as a trainer - to encourage and get the best of my student. Ignore what Tony is saying, it's just going to get you angry and therefore worthless to do your job. He's just frustrated because this is his third time trying to take down Stefano Elgante. The pressure is all on him by our leader to get it done, therefore on you to do it as well. Just focus on lining up the shot and tune out all other things."

Elias took up his rifle to aim at Stefano Elgante. Pasi was right, it was on him to be successful on this mission and no one else.

He just had to find that one moment.

*********

Tony scoffed at Pasi's declaration to Elias. It had been right of course, but he wasn't about to admit such things aloud. Especially not with Tommy and others half listening in.

Instead, he looked down at the display and frowned. "Who are these additional people? I thought it was just his daughter and her fiancé?"

Malainen typed on his keyboard. "I'm trying to ID them right now."

Tony turned to Marksson. "Anything out of the ordinary around the house?"

"Not that I can see. It's the same two cars parked out front. No other cars have appeared on the five cameras on the street I'm working with. I keep cycling through them."

Tony was about to ask something else when Malainen spoke up.

"The man in the green suit is the fiancé’s father, as is the woman also in green."

Tony glanced down at the screen to spot a man in a dark blue suit. He pointed to the display and said, "What about him?"

"Looks to be someone associated with Stefano Elgante. His name is Dario Flemente."

Tony staggered in place. "That can't be."

Tommy looked down at Malainen's display. "It's him and now we have to make a choice."

Malainen frowned at his boss. "A choice?"

Tony flicked the switch to talk to their leader. "It seems that Dario Flemente is attendance as well."

"As he should be. He is the daughter's godfather."

Tony blinked at the statement. "You knew he would be there?"

"I suspected he might. I also suspected he would bring more than himself. If I'm reading these satellite images from Marksson's computer, there doesn't appear to be any backup in the vicinity and that worries me. It's not like Dario Flemente to go anywhere without his backup."

Malainen cleared his throat. "I believe I've identified some other men that have just come out on the patio. They looked to be carrying handguns in their suit coats."

Tony groaned and tapped on Marksson's shoulder. "Give me a visual on the inside of the house. Why aren't we reading it along with everything else?"

"I can't penetrate the house with our systems. Tommy mentioned it earlier but I don't think you heard it."

The leader talked in Tony's ear again, "Being that there are only two cars outside, that limits how many people we're dealing with. Each car can only hold five people maximum so that leaves us ten men or women. I doubt Stefano Elgante came with more than two men. That means Dario Flemente probably has two as well. That's two more men inside the house."

Marksson frowned at the image. "Make that two more people and a child."

Tony turned to look at the display. "A child? Belonging to who?"

"I can't ID children like this. I'm guessing it's belonging to one of the guys with a gun."

Tony thought for a moment. "One of them must be related to Stefano Elgante or his daughter's fiancé."

"You're correct. One of the men, the one with a pink carnation in his front pocket is Stefano Elgante's son Darius."

Tony groaned. "It must be a pre-wedding party if the family is there."

The leader talked in Tony's ear. "And thereby more targets. I wouldn't mind if you eliminated Dario Flemente, but the others are not an option. Have Viljanen pick his target very carefully."

**********

Elias frowned at the extra people on the patio. He should have taken the shot when it was less crowded but Stefano Elgante was always with someone so he didn't have a clear shot.

Tony's voice chirped into his ear again, "It seems Stefano Elgante wants this to be a complicated mission. The man in the dark blue suit is Dario Flemente who has also escaped our radar. He like Stefano Elgante is a man who likes to brutalize women and use them as sex slaves. He is not a target, but if you happen to get a chance after taking out Stefano Elgante I won't stop you."

Elias swallowed hard. "I'm having enough problems mustering up the courage to kill Stefano Elgante much less some other guy."

"Know that both Stefano Elgante's son in the black suit with a pink carnation and the other one guy in the same colored suit are packing weapons. Granted they aren't rifles but be very careful retreating after taking the shot. I doubt they'll hesitate in trying to shoot you down if they can see you."

Elias groaned. "Thanks for that, Kakko."

"I'm just giving you the details as I see them."

Elias grumbled to himself and looked down the sight again. He moved the rifle slightly to spot Stefano Elgante all by himself overlooking the patio. His finger flicked off the safety and aimed.

"Not yet, Elias."

Elias was about to complain to Tony for breaking his concentration, but then he spotted a woman passing off a young girl for Stefano Elgante to hold.

"If he gives up the kid in the next few minutes, then take the shot. Always remember that nothing stays the same for very long. If you have the shot, don't hesitate for a second or it will change."

Elias watched Stefano Elgante talk to the kid and wondered how a man like him could act that normal around others. Were there dueling personalities at work? How could he send women and children off to their potential deaths and still be so gentle with this kid?

The obvious answer was because this kid was a part of his family. Though imagine if the kid knew what grandpa did on the side. Elias shivered at the prospect of something like that. As it is, the kid was going to find out firsthand what it's like to see someone die. It wasn't exactly something Elias wanted to take place, but he had a job to do and that took precedence.

Stefano Elgante handed off the child to the same woman from before. Elias aimed his rifle and took the shot once the woman and child were out of view.

What he wasn't anticipating was for the woman to come back into the frame with the child again.

**********

Tony stared down at the monitor in horror as the bullet sliced through the small child's head. He held onto the sides of the console to steady himself.

Tommy swore behind him and patted the back of Marksson's chair. "Radio our helicopter team. We need to get out of there as soon as possible!"

Tony took a deep breath and spoke. "Pasi, take Elgante down."

Another bullet rang out, hitting Stefano Elgante in the middle of his forehead, dropping him to the ground in a heap. Stefano Elgante's son removed his gun and searched the area where the bullet might have come from. He nodded at the other man in a dark suit and they headed back into the house.

Tony flicked the switch to all three in the field. "Get to the meetup place now. The helicopter is on its way."

Henkka's hurried voice came over the radio, "Heading for Elias as I speak."

Tony sucked in a breath and addressed Elias, "Elias, get your gun packed up. Pasi and Henkka will be on the way."

Silence.

Tony's jaw clenched. "Elias?"

Still silence.

"Elias!"

**********


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias' second mission is a success but at what cost?

Elias gaped in horror at what he'd done. With his own rifle, he took down a small child who barely had the chance to live. He had the target in his sights and then it all changed in a matter of seconds.

Did he hesitate for a moment? He didn't remember doing anything of the sort, but his miss made Pasi have to intervene and thereby signaled Elias' death. There was no way they'd be happy with what transpired.

Pasi wiggled into the bush. "Come on, we need to go."

Elias dropped the rifle. "What does it matter? I'm dead now."

Pasi pulled Elias with the rifle out of the bush. "This isn't the time for angsting."

Elias dropped to his knees. "Just go, save yourself and leave me to the wrath of his son for what I did. I deserve it."

Henkka came into the clearing wearing a frown. "What the hell is taking so long? We have to go!"

Pasi motioned to Elias. "He's refusing to go back."

Henkka moved over to Elias and kicked him right in the midsection, knocking the wind out of him. "Give me the rifles and grab him. I'm not going to get killed because he's feeling miserable."

Pasi handed the rifles over, grunting to pick Elias up. "You do know he weighs more than I do right?"

Henkka shouldered the rifles. "Yeah, and I also know you've deadlifted me before and I'm about your weight."

They hurried away from the shrubs and house to stop short at the end of the walkway, hiding behind some tall grass after spotting some men coming their way.

Henkka swore and spoke to Tony in a whisper, "Kakko, get us out of here. Two men are coming for us with guns."

"The helicopter is on the way. Have Pasi take them out since Elias is probably useless at the moment."

Pasi dropped Elias and grabbed one of the rifles from Henkka. He aimed around the bush and shot the man with a pink flower in his pocket first before taking out the second man. "Done, but what if there's more?"

Tony didn't get to answer as their helicopter descended on their position. Pasi dragged Elias' unconscious form to the helicopter and shoved him inside. Henkka got around the other side and they launched from the ground.

They thought they were in the clear until the gunfire peppered the helicopter.

The pilot snorted down at it. "Like that's going to reach us."

That was the last thing he ever said before a bullet hit him in the head from the ground.

**********

Tony swore again. "Get me the backup helicopter! The pilot's been shot and they're swirling around in the air."

Marksson scrambled to dial up the number to their other helicopter team.

Tony paced around until he heard confirmation, all the while trying to rein in every emotion that was swirling around inside. He stopped short when he spotted the leader standing in front of him. With a sigh, he prepared for the worst. Was this going to be Elias' end?

"As you know the mission was successful, but at the cost of an innocent life. I want to speak with Viljanen before you debrief him."

Tony stared at his leader. 

"I also prefer to do it alone. That way I can find out just went wrong."

Tony's jaw clenched. "That's unnecessary as I know where it went wrong. Elias took the shot too soon. He probably thought he had a clear shot after the child went back to the mother and took it. The problem was the woman and child came back into the frame at the exact same time. That's how the child was killed."

"Yes, I'm aware of that and will discuss it with Viljanen when he arrives." He turned to Tommy. "I assume the second helicopter team is on their way?"

Tommy winced. "Not yet, and the current one is without a pilot. Henkka is trying to control it, but he's not being successful. All the while, others are shooting at it further."

Tony flicked the switch. "Pasi, if you have a clear shot feel free to take it. I know the mission is over, but I'd rather you three not be shot down in the middle of it."

Pasi sighed into his ear. "Very well."

Tony turned back to their leader, waiting for him to ream Tony further. It was only a matter of time when he said something along the lines of how Tony screwed up again, despite taking out Stefano Elgante.

The leader eyed Tony. "Is there something else?"

Tony frowned. "I assume I will be talked to about this as well."

"You know my feelings about failure, Tony. Despite the loss of innocents, you succeeded on this mission."

"Then why are you going around me to meet with Elias? He's not even answering me or anyone else at the moment."

The leader smiled at Tony, flashing his perfectly white teeth in the process. "Is that what you think this, that I will gain some kind of secret insight before you've had the chance? You said it yourself on how it went down. I would just like to hear Viljanen's version of the story."

Anger raced through Tony's veins. "There is nothing to gain. It happened like I said!"

Tommy turned around to stare horrified at Tony's outburst.

The leader studied Tony's shaking body and shook his head. "You're relieved of duty for today. Head back to your room and wait for my instructions. I will not tolerate these kinds of outbursts from anyone, especially from you."

Tony shook his head, the anger draining away. "I'm sorry for that. It will not happen again."

"Somehow I don't believe that anymore. You are dismissed."

Tony moved over to stand in front of the leader. "Look, I screwed up and apologized. Let me finish this mission and then you can dismiss me."

"Do I need to repeat myself? You are dismissed or do I need to call security to take you away?"

Tony stepped away from their leader and turned to leave with his shoulders slumping a little.

**********

Henkka held onto the stick, trying to steady them in the helicopter. "I can't keep this up for much longer, Tony!"

"Another is the on the way. Try to divert it to a field away from the houses if you can. That will be easier for the second to pick you up."

Henkka frowned at their leader's voice. "Where is Tony? I thought he was leading this mission?"

"Just do as I say, Klingenberg."

Henkka swallowed hard. "Yes, sir."

Pasi mouthed to Henkka. "What happened to Tony?"

Henkka shrugged, diverting the helicopter to the left side.

***********

Tony didn't head to his room, instead bypassing it to his office. He walked inside and hoped his codes were still active as he punched them into the panel.

The door locked shut and Tony sunk to the ground on his knees.

He'd finally done it, crossing over that invisible line of acting out.

Despite the calm look on the leader's face, Tony knew he was livid inside. Disobedience and acting out were not tolerated at all. They usually led to suicide missions or elimination.

Granted Tony hadn't made a habit of it over the past couple years so really this was his first time talking back to the leader. Maybe there would be leniency this time around.

But what of next time?

Tony knew something inside was brewing and he was having troubles controlling it each day that passed. He had to put his plan into motion, but could he still accomplish it after being relieved of duty?

Never mind the fact that they might eliminate him before he even had the time to start it.

The thing that bugged him most of all was the leader wanting to meet with Elias alone. What would such a thing accomplish? Unless it wasn't for the mission and something else?

Tony blinked at the realization that Elias might very well be his replacement. Maybe the leader wanted to see if Elias was up for that sort of thing. Tony didn't think Elias was ready, but it wasn't up to him. Elias never struck him as wanting to lead anyone, following along like a meek animal and doing what he was told for the most part.

The room buzzed with Tommy's voice, "Tony, the leader wants to see you in his office in ten minutes. The team is on its way from the crash site, no one was injured in it thankfully."

Tony responded, hoping his out of control emotions wouldn't fail him more. "Will do."

*********

Their leader was sitting at his desk when Tony arrived. He glanced up and motioned for the hard plastic chair in front.

Tony shuffled over to it and sat down. He took a deep breath and waited for the onslaught to start.

The leader leaned forward on his desk. "First of all, in case Tommy never told you, the team is on their way back from the site. Klingenberg was able to crash the helicopter into a field of grass and the other helicopter team was able to rescue them."

Tony nodded but said nothing.

"Second, is that you are not to speak to any of them when they arrive. You will return to either your office or your quarters and start work on the next mission."

Tony bit his lip and wondered what the next mission would be. Would it be his end?

"Also, Viljanen is now under my supervision. You are not to interact with him nor order him around. All orders for him will come from me."

Tony stared at the ground. "So I am to be replaced by him?"

"I didn't say that, only that I have other things in mind for Viljanen. Before you started your tirade at me, I was about to reveal why I wanted to talk to Viljanen about, but I saw that you weren't ready for such things in your current condition. I trust that there will be no more instances of that disobedience?"

Tony glanced up. "No, sir. I acted out of line and should be sanctioned."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear. The next mission is another undercover operation for some recruits to take part in. Yet another male sex ring has appeared in the wake of Mikhail Runov's disappearance."

"So they're going to pose as waiters again?"

"No, they're going to be some of the merchandise. We'll be able to track them to the main base and eliminate it."

Tony stared at his leader. "They're going to be sex slaves?"

"Correct, for the time being at least. We don't plan on having them there longer than it takes to locate their signal."

Tony shook his head. "No recruit will want to take part in such a thing. They'll push back when they find out what's going to happen to them."

The leader rose an eyebrow. "What makes you think that we're going to tell them such things? It's an undercover mission and that is what you'll tell them, nothing more. We need them to act as they would if they were picked off the streets as these types of rings like to do. If they know in advance, they will ruin it like Lahtenan did the previous time."

"They will be brutalized in the process. How will that help them in the long run? They might just come back here after the mission and try something stupid."

The leader looked Tony in the eyes. "They aren't likely to be returned. We only need them to find the location of the base. That being said, find two recruits that are underperforming compared to other recruits. Those who don't excel in training are expendable."

"And if they excel during the mission? Will you still eliminate them?"

The leader sat back in his leather chair to study Tony's face. "Why does it matter? Anyone who underperforms here is useless to us. I don't care what happens in the field as long as they lead us to what we want."

Tony's jaw clenched. "Very well. I'll consult Marko on which recruits have been underperforming. I haven't really had the time to watch over his classes lately."

"Yes, I've seen. You will remedy that I assume?"

Tony pushed the overwhelming emotions to the side. The last thing he needed was another outburst to give his leader another reason to punish him further. "Yes, when I've looked over the next mission."

The leader got up from his desk. "Good, you are dismissed. I believe Viljanen should be arriving soon."

Tony swallowed hard but didn't respond. That's what their leader was looking for, another outburst or showing any kind of emotion toward Elias. Instead, he got up from his chair and said, "I'll be reviewing the new mission details in my office if you need me."

"I don't think that will be the case."

A frown etched across Tony's face as he headed for the doorway.

***********

Pasi, Henkka, and Elias trudged through the hallway from the van. 

Elias walked in a daze, unable to think of anything else apart from shooting a small child. He was no better than the sex rings that they were so desperate to stop. Killing something so innocent was the worst of the worst and usually got you killed in prison.

Pasi stopped short when he got to the opening, immediately standing up straight. 

Henkka bumped into him. He turned in time to see why Pasi was at attention and quickly followed suit.

Elias blinked at them and turned when his name called out.

"Viljanen, I would like to meet with you."

Elias' eyes widened at the sight of the red-haired man from before. He was the leader of their organization and not one to mess with according to Henkka. Elias swallowed hard. "Me, sir?"

"Yes, you will follow me to my office on the second floor. We have some things to discuss."

Elias looked around the area. "Where is Tony?"

"That is not your concern anymore."

Henkka exchanged glances with Pasi.

Elias shook his head. "Tony is my supervisor. Shouldn't he be here too?"

"Tony is no longer your supervisor. I am now."

Elias took a deep breath before responding. The last thing he needed was resorting to yelling at the one man who could decide his fate. "Did you kill him?"

The leader smiled, his teeth wide and big at Elias. "No, Tony has not been eliminated. He's assigned to something else for now. If you're done with all these questions, we have a meeting to attend."

Elias gave Henkka and Pasi a concerned glance before nodding at the leader and following down the hallway.

Henkka glanced up at Pasi. "What the hell happened to Tony?"

"I don't know, but I'd rather him as my boss than the leader."

**********

Elias eyed the leader's sparse office. There was only a large wooden desk and two chairs in front of it.

The leader moved over to sit behind his desk and motioned to the chair in front. "Have a seat, Viljanen."

Elias swallowed hard and sat down on the hard plastic chair, definitely not made for long visits to the leader's office. He assumed that was on purpose, in order to watch his victims squirm in an uncomfortable chair.

The leader studied Elias' confused face. "I'm sure you're wondering why we're meeting."

Elias shook his head. "I'm pretty sure it's to tell me that I'm scheduled to be killed after murdering a child and missing my target."

"Actually you're wrong. What happened earlier was very unfortunate, but Pasi rectified it afterward. We don't kill someone after one misstep."

Elias sat back in his chair. "That's not my only screw-up. I almost killed Mikhail Runov with my attack to his crotch."

The leader smiled wide again. "Yes, that's true but he was delivered alive nevertheless. Though you're actually here to talk about Tony."

Elias stared at the leader. "Tony? What about him?"

"I wanted to ask you about your relationship with him."

Elias folded his arms across his chest. "What relationship? He treats me like garbage all of the time. If that's called a relationship, then remind me to never get in another one."

"He hasn't made any overtures toward you? It could be anything from touching you more than normal to talking to you differently."

Elias hesitated, thinking back to when Tony tied his bow tie for the undercover mission. That would be considered acting out of character for Tony, but should he even reveal such a thing?

"I'm waiting, Viljanen. Did he ever make overtures toward you?"

"No, sir."

The leader's eyebrow went up. "Are you sure about that?"

Elias bit his lip. "Yes."

"Well, you don't look sure. I will tell you that fraternizing with other team members is strictly forbidden. The penalty of it is death as your fellow recruit Andersson found out."

"Tony and I have never done that sort of thing. As I said before, he's usually spending his time talking down to me. That's the only time I see him is when he's either interrupting my training or calling me to his office. It's never gone beyond that."

"But you have feelings for him?"

Elias thought back to when they fought last in front of Marko, the rush of energy and the sudden desire to kiss Tony after it was over. It took several cold showers to calm him down after that. At this point, he couldn't figure out what he felt for Tony at all. It was half hate, half pity, and half something else.

"You're hesitating again. If something is going on between the two of you, there are ways of finding out. Every single room has a camera to it, including the crew quarters."

Elias flushed, wondering if someone was watching him jerk off in the mornings and at night. "It's not like that. We've never kissed or fucked for that matter. In fact, I don't even think Tony is capable of loving anyone in general. He's never shown any fondness for me at all."

"So then you have no feelings for him?"

"Other than wanting to smash his face in on occasion, no."

The leader sat back in his chair. "Good, that's what I wanted to hear. As it is, you will be reporting to me from now on. I want you to watch Tony from a distance via those cameras I spoke about earlier. I suspect he's planning something and I want to know about it before it happens."

"You want me to spy on him? Can't someone else do that for you other than me?"

"I'm choosing you because of the history between the two of you. I know he's riled you up on more than one occasion and this gives you a chance at getting back at him, let him fall by his own actions."

"I don't know if I can do this. I mean, yes I don't particularly like Tony all that much, but isn't this a little bit over the top?"

The leader shook his head. "It needs to be done now as I don't trust Tony anymore. He's plotting something, possibly with Paasikoski or Klingenberg and I want to know what it is. Besides, you need me on your good side if you want to live."

Elias sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. Where do I watch from?"

"Have you ever noticed that hallway near Henkka's area to the left? That's where our surveillance offices are. I will have them set you up with one to watch from."

"So it's just when he's wandering around the area? Not when he sleeps?"

The leader smiled. "If he's sleeping, that means you should be asleep. He can't plot things in his dreams."

Elias blinked at that statement and wondered if that was actually true. Some of Elias' dreams had been vivid and detailed of escaping prison back in the day, so much that he remembered some days after the fact.

"Go back to your quarters for now, someone will come by later for training." He stopped to look deep into Elias' eyes. "Though I will remind you to not engage with Tony at all. I don't care what he says to get your attention or tries to get a rise out of you. You are to ignore him and continue on your way. Is that clear?"

Elias swallowed hard. Could he really ignore Tony that long? "Understood."

"Good, then you're dismissed."

Elias was about to exit the office when the leader called out to him.

"One more thing, Viljanen. If you tell anyone about what I've just told you, you're as good as dead. I will see to it myself."

Elias bit his lip and left the office.

*********

Tony watched from the second floor balcony at Marko's morning class. He frowned at the lack of Elias in it, though he wasn't surprised. Their leader was actively keeping them apart for a specific reason and it bugged him to no end. Was Elias replacing him? Was it for something else like spying?

He hadn't thought about the spying angle until now but it would make sense. Though if it was true, that meant Tony had done something to make the leader suspect something was up, assuming Tony was the target at all. His luck Elias tasked with watching over the supervisors like Henkka, Marko, or Tommy.

Marko looked around his group and then glanced up at Tony. "Where is Viljanen?"

"I don't know. The last I heard he had a meeting with our leader."

Marko snorted at the statement. "Aren't you his supervisor?"

"Not anymore."

Marko's eyebrow rose.

Elias hurried into the area and took his position. "Sorry, I overslept."

Marko grinned at Elias. "Then you get to be my partner for being late."

Elias smiled back. "I welcome it."

Marko laughed and addressed the class of today's lesson.

Tony looked down at Elias wondering why he was late.

He'd probably never know at this point.

**********

Tony headed downstairs to talk to Marko after his class. He needed two recruits for the undercover project. Though he dreaded having to pick them himself, so he wanted Marko's input.

Marko called out to Elias as Tony came near. "Hey Viljanen, where the hell are you going? The crew quarters are back this way."

Tony watched Elias head for the hallway that led to the surveillance rooms. He sighed at finally getting his answer - Elias was indeed spying on someone inside.

"Elias!" Marko turned back to Tony. "What the hell is going on, Tony?"

Tony opened his mouth to respond, cut off by another person's voice.

"That is not your concern, Paasikoski. Viljanen is doing what he has been told by me."

Marko glanced up at their leader standing on the second floor. "You're his supervisor now?"

"I am, and you will let Viljanen do what he's been told. I will not tolerate any interference."

Marko shrugged. "I have no intention of doing that. I was just wondering why he was going into a secure location without an escort. That area is strictly forbidden unless that's changed?"

"It hasn't changed, but Viljanen is allowed in there under my orders."

"Then the mystery is solved. I apologize for trying to impede Elias' progress."

Tony waited until the leader had left the area before turning to Marko. "The question is who is Elias watching?"

Marko laughed and walked away from Tony. "It isn't me that's for sure!"

Tony looked over at the vacant hallway again.

It was probably him.

**********

Elias swallowed hard, opening the door to his new office. He shuffled in and headed for the desk. Monitors surrounded it from all sides, seeing everyone who milled about in the open areas and some in their quarters.

A console sat on the desk to switch between the cameras to follow someone to other rooms. After his meeting with the leader, the head of this department gathered him for training.

There wasn't much to it other than how to switch between the monitors without losing someone. After that, it was just watching for Tony to do something odd.

Elias searched the monitors for Tony before stopping on the training area. Tony and Marko stood in front of each other talking. He couldn't hear what they were saying but he did have the ability to zoom in to see their lips.

It's too bad Elias had no clue how to read lips. It was something he'd have to figure out before too long if he wanted to catch Tony saying something odd.

From the way the two were talking, it was more than likely about how the recruits were progressing. Neither was in a stance to indicate arguing or yelling.

Just a casual conversation between supervisors.

Elias couldn't help but to focus on how red Tony's lips were. He'd noticed it the first time he saw Tony's face when they busted him out of prison, but this close up was enough for him to study them further. Tony had a tendency to talk out of one side of his mouth that Elias never noticed before. Most times he was focused on fighting back to notice it.

A rush of heat filled Elias' body but he tried to ignore it. This wasn't the time for it and nor was it ever going to happen in the first place. Thinking about kissing those red lips weren't helping matters and could be used against Elias later if the leader ever found out about it.

He sat back in his chair, zooming out of Tony's face, and watched them interact instead.

**********

Tony turned to Marko. "The real reason I'm here is I need to pick two recruits for a mission. You know them better than I do at this point, so I wanted your input."

Marko's touched over his chest. "You're actually asking for my help? Bestill my beating heart."

"I haven't been watching classes that much so I'd be picking blindly and I hate doing that."

"That you haven't. I missed your cheery disposition."

Tony's eyebrow rose.

"So what kind of mission are we talking about? Grunt work? Undercover?"

Tony hesitated before answering. He shouldn't tell Marko anything of the mission, but it would help them pick someone. "It's undercover, but it's likely to fail. Is there anyone underperforming?"

Marko itched at his beard. "I have Saunders who is behind everyone. Not as bad as Andersson was but he's lacking in abilities to say the least."

"Ok, then I'll pick him. Got another one?"

Marko shook his head. "Not really. Saunders is pretty much it with this batch."

Tony thought for a moment. "Any recruit you don't particularly like who is succeeding?"

Marko's eyebrow rose.

"I mean, it's a mission that's likely to fail so if there was someone who you didn't particularly like, then you could potentially get rid of them. Not that I would suggest such a thing of course."

Marko chuckled. "Subtle, Kakko, subtle. There's always Sorenson. He's always been a pain in my ass and quite frankly I don't like his attitude in general. Hell, that's why I put him with Elias so I can watch him get his ass kicked by a more advanced student."

"You do know that will actually make him a better student."

Marko snorted, shaking his head. "Not Sorenson. He's all ego and no substance. He thinks he's better than others and will point it out every chance he gets, but then gets beaten soundly by Elias every single time."

"Which one is Sorenson? The redhead?"

"No, he's the dishwater blond guy with a few prison tats on his arm."

Tony frowned. Would they pick up obvious prison residents for sex slaves? He assumed they'd go after young men with no experience.

"What is it?"

Tony sighed. "He won't fit the bill unless his prison tats disappear."

"Then make the tattoos disappear. We have surgical bays for that sort of thing."

Tony stroked his beard. "That might just work. Though I'd have to get permission from the leader I'd assume."

"Or have Sorenson get injured with a weapon. He is far enough to start weapons training. I'd have to get someone good enough to hit him in the right arm with the prison tats enough to scrap the tats but to not take off his arm."

"I assume that's an obvious choice - you. You know the weapons almost as good as Henkka does and you could easily hit him without chopping off his arm."

"I could, but I might aim for his neck instead if I had my way."

"Are you suggesting I do it?"

Marko laughed. "You'd probably slice him in half. No, I'll do it. I'll just schedule some one on one training after one of the classes. When do you need him by?"

"I have a month to plan this so the sooner the better. I imagine his arm will still be sore if we wait too long, not that it matters for this mission. He won't have any weapons, just undercover gear."

Marko shrugged. "Then I guess tomorrow is a good enough day as any. At least tell me that Sorenson will get what's coming to him after this."

"Trust me, Make, he'll get more than any man can handle. It's the reason I wanted to make sure I had your input first. This is the lowest of the low in terms of missions. Not even Elias would have been sent out on this."

**********

Elias blinked at the mention of his name from Tony. 

That he could make out since he'd seen Tony say it enough times in the past. The rest of the conversation was garbled but that was clear as day.

Why was Tony talking about him? Was it about why he headed for the surveillance rooms?

Elias wished he could learn to read lips. It would make his job so much easier that way.

Tony moved away from Marko and headed to the right on the monitors.

Elias switched the cameras to follow Tony down the hallway to his office. At least he assumed that's where Tony was going since it was in that direction. He had no idea what was beyond Tony's office, but he guessed that it might be more offices or storage. The other doors were always closed when Elias had to head to Tony's office.

Tony opened his door and Elias switched to the interior camera to see Tony tap out his passcode on the wall.

Elias watched Tony slump to his knees beside his desk. He frowned at Tony covering his ears and yelling out in pain. It was the same thing that happened when Elias found Tony in the workout area. He didn't know what was causing it, only that it seemed to paralyze Tony in the process.

Tony lifted his head and looked straight into the camera that was watching him.

Elias jumped back, surprised at Tony looking directly at him. He didn't think Tony knew where the camera was but apparently he did or he wouldn't be looking straight at it.

Tony said Elias' name.

Elias stared at it, wondering if he was starting to lose his mind from watching these camera monitors. Tony couldn't be talking directly to him, that's not possible. And yet, Tony looked right into the camera and said his name.

Tony shook his head while still looking at the camera and said "pervert" before getting up to sit at his desk. He typed out some things on the laptop with his back to the camera.

Elias zoomed in to see what was on the laptop screen but it appeared blurred out for some reason. These types of screens shouldn't do that to fancy cameras. He tried different angles but every one of them blurred out the screen. Everything around the laptop was in perfect focus like Tony's hands typing away on the keyboard.

Suddenly Tony's hands stopped typing and his body turned.

Elias zoomed the camera out to reveal Tony looking at him again and mouthing the words, "for my eyes only" before turning back around and typing again. He tapped a button to call the head of the department into his office.

The door opened to reveal a man in his mid-20's with jet black hair slicked back. He wandered over to Elias' desk. "What's up?"

Elias pointed to the monitor with Tony typing away on it. "I can't see what Tony is typing on his computer."

The man laughed and patted Elias on the back. "None of us can. It's something to do with how the computers were set up initially. The leader put that into use, so we couldn't spy on his computer and watch what he's typing away. Since Tony is a high ranking operative, he's going to have the same thing on it." The man stopped to point at the camera on Tommy's team working on something. "If you zoom on a communications computer, you'll be able to see what they're typing and watching. Theirs can also be patched into from other areas like from Tony's computer or our leader's for that matter."

"Can ours be accessed like that too?"

The man smiled. "Not normally, but if someone like Tommy or even Tony for that matter wanted to patch into here they could do it. They both know the system completely and could use countermeasures to block anything from tracking them. I'm pretty sure Tony has done that on occasion but mostly to see what we're seeing and not to see us personally."

Elias blinked at him. "How can you tell?"

"Tony is very specific with his requests. Usually watching new recruits like yourself. I know for a fact he patched into the decontamination cameras after you arrived. Usually, they have a very stable load but the day you arrived it spiked and then went back to normal after a few minutes."

"He was watching me get brutalized?"

The man shrugged. "Probably to see if you fought back or not. Some recruits have been able to kill a few of the men over there during that. It's technically his job to make sure things are completed. Considering he only watched for a few minutes, he wasn't exactly getting off on what he was seeing."

Anger raced through Elias' veins again at the idea of Tony watching him at all. He had been right if Tony was watching it to get off.

The man studied Elias' angry expression. "Don't get too worked up about it, Viljanen. Tony could care less about most people here so it's not like you're special or anything."

"Maybe, but it still strikes me as odd. Is there any other instances of Tony watching me?"

"Could be, but most are focused on the training areas or the crew quarters. The only reason I remembered the decontamination cameras was because they don't usually spike like that."

Elias sat back in his chair. "So basically you're telling me that Tony has only been watching me specifically like that."

The man headed for the door. "Could be, but that's your assumption."

Elias went back to watching Tony, wondering why Tony would even care about him.

*********


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias has been tasked with spying on Tony. Will he see things that reveal more about his elusive boss than he ever wanted to know?

Tony yawned, leaning back in his chair to stretch his arms above his head. He knew Elias was watching his every move, feeling Elias' stare through the guise of the camera.

At least it wasn't Samson. The less he thought about the head of surveillance the better.

He was a creeper, nothing more. Anyone who headed a department that made its business of watching everyone would turn out like that. Though for some reason Samson took pleasure in watching Tony on occasion. The only reason he knew is if he had to interact with Samson, he would say something that only watching Tony would be able to know. 

It was unsettling then and even more so now that Elias was under his instructions. Who knows where Elias would stop his watching for the night. Would he wait until Tony was asleep or just keeping watching as he slept until the wee hours of the morning?

Elias was required to still show up at Marko's class so he couldn't risk staying up too late.

Tony snorted to himself, realizing that's why Elias was late to class today. He'd probably been watching Tony sleep. It's too bad there was nothing he could do to give Elias a show since he had to watch anyway.

A frown crossed his red lips. Had Elias saw his nightly ritual last night? It wasn't something that he wanted to share with anyone, especially not Elias.

But it couldn't be helped.

At this point, it was a part of his life. The daily choice between life and death.

What was tonight's choice?

**********

Elias yawned and got up out of his chair. It was getting late and Marko would be pissed at him for being late two days in a row.

He was about to head to bed when he noticed Tony leave his office.

Elias blinked at it, figuring Tony wouldn't leave before he did. He certainly didn't leave before Elias last night.

With a sigh, he sank back into his desk chair and followed Tony to the supervisor crew quarters. He assumed they would be fancier than the lowly recruits, but there was just a dresser inside Tony's room compared to his own. Tony had the same boring quarters as everyone else did.

Tony sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the floor with a frown on his face.

Elias frowned at it, wondering what was giving Tony so much trouble tonight. Was it because he knew Elias was watching him or something else entirely?

Tony dug around underneath his bed to pull something out.

Elias zoomed in further to get a look at it and then jumped back when he realized it was a handgun. He watched in horror as Tony put the gun up to the side of his head.

"Ah, Kakko is still doing that. Some things never change."

Elias jumped at the sound of another voice in the room. He turned to see the head of the department, Samson, standing in his doorway and looking at his monitors. He stared at him. "You've seen this before?"

"Oh yeah, it seems he does it on a nightly basis. At least he did when I happen to catch him late at night. I haven't watched Tony for a while, but he tends to do that before bed. So far, he's never pulled the trigger."

Tony removed the gun from his head and stuck the barrel in his mouth.

Elias swallowed hard. "Come on Tony, don't do something stupid. This place isn't that bad for you to commit suicide."

Samson laughed at Elias' feeble attempts. "You know he can't hear you, right? Talking to him isn't going to change anything as you know full well. Tony is what he is."

"I refuse to believe that. He just needs someone to confide in."

"What? Someone like you? You're not falling for him, are you Viljanen? That's a dangerous path if you are."

Elias rolled his eyes. "I don't need to fall for him in order to care. I doubt Henkka or Marko is in love with Tony, but they still care for him."

Samson chuckled. "No, they're more into each other. Everyone knows they're lovers."

Elias turned to stare at Samson. "Marko and Henkka are lovers?"

"Oh yeah, though I've never seen proof of it myself. It's just talk among everyone else. If they are carrying on with each other, they've managed to find the only place in this building that doesn't have a camera. To be honest, I have no idea where that might be. We have a camera everywhere."

Elias frowned. "Including the bathrooms?"

"Probably in there too, but I don't have access to it. I don't need to watch guys piss. I have enough stuff to keep track of than to waste my time with that."

Elias turned back to the monitor to watch Tony remove the gun and tuck it away underneath his bed again. "I take it you've never told anyone else about the fact that Tony has a gun in his room?"

"No, it's not worth the misery of being yelled at by the big boss. It's not like Tony is going to go on a shooting spree with it. He only uses it for this every night. As you saw, once he's done he just puts it back where it came from."

Elias gaped when the monitor went completely dead. "What the hell happened?"

Samson laughed. "It's Tony not wanting us to see him get undressed. I don't blame him, to be honest. It only lasts for a few minutes and then you'll see him in bed. Some say Tony has some wicked scars but I've never seen them. I started too late to see his decontamination video and I'd imagine those are purged after a while."

Elias watched the monitor reception come back to show Tony in bed. "But how does he do that?"

"No idea, but he seems to be the only one who has such a thing. You'll see everyone else undress except him. It's kind of weird, but that's Tony."

Elias got up from the chair and stretched. "Might as well call it a night since he's in bed."

Samson smiled at Elias as he walked by. "See you soon."

Elias' jaw clenched at the idea of Samson watching him undress. The guy rubbed him the wrong way from the start but he had to play nice in order to do his job.

The same old thing just in a different place.

**********

Tony watched over the morning class. He was early so only half of the class was there yet.

Marko rose an eyebrow at Tony. "You're actually early? That's a surprise."

"I don't have anything to do as of this morning. The next mission is now set so all that's left is to grab the two recruits and brief them."

Marko grinned. "The same two?"

"Yes, I put them in for the mission and so far there haven't been any objections to them being chosen. Though our leader has the right to override me in the end."

Marko laughed. "I doubt he's going to object. Both are useless when it comes to anything beyond running their mouths."

Forcin turned to face Tony. "Am I one of them?"

Tony shook his head. "No, you're not. I'm waiting to put you on something more substantial. This mission is grunt work which you've already done in the past."

Forcin stared at Tony. "You think I'm ready for missions like that?"

"Yes, I do. You've excelled in Marko's class and you've done the same in the other weapons training. All that's left is to give you some more missions. I wouldn't waste your talents on simple undercover stuff. I'm hoping a mission pops up in the next month, but I can't promise that."

Forcin stood at attention. "I hope I'm worthy of your praise."

Marko laughed behind him. "Notice how they stand straight when they want to impress you? Where the hell did that even come from?"

Tony shrugged. "No idea, but they all do it. Regardless, it doesn't affect anything that I've figured out already. I just wish the slacking students would do that and then maybe they wouldn't get sent on suicide missions."

"Yeah well, it wouldn't change my opinion of them in the slightest. If you slack off here, you're not fit for any mission other than a trip to the elimination rooms."

Elias hurried in to stand off to the side.

Marko took one look at him and laughed. "Viljanen, you have to stop staying up late to stare at computer monitors. You look like hell."

Elias ducked his head. "Sorry, I was going to go to bed early but something came up."

Marko glanced up at Tony with a raised eyebrow.

"Apparently he likes to watch me."

Elias froze in place.

Marko laughed at it. "Oh come on, who else would you be watching other than Tony? It sure the hell isn't me or Henkka or even Tommy."

Sorenson sneered off to the side. "Getting to watch your boyfriend, Viljanen? How convenient."

Elias' hands curled into balls. "What did you say?"

Marko grinned between the two men. "Looks like you two will be paired up again. I might even watch this fight myself."

Tony called out, "Try not to kill him, Elias, I need to brief him later."

Sorenson turned to frown at Tony but didn't have a chance to say anything as Elias started launching his attack on him.

*********

After the class, Tony made his way down to collect Sorenson and Saunders for the briefing.

Tony still didn't know what exactly to tell them. He knew they were going to stand in an alley entrance, but who knows how long it would take to get them noticed. They might have to take matters into their own hands if it was too long.

Elias approached Tony before he had a chance to grab the recruits. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Tony tried to sidestep Elias but he moved in the way again. "Look, you and I both know we can't be interacting. I'm sure our leader drilled that into your head when you started watching me. He also told me the same thing, so move out of my way."

As Tony was walking away, Elias called out, "I just wanted to say that you're not as lonely as you think you are."

Tony froze in place. He turned around to face Elias again. "So you did see it. If you think me being lonely is why I do that every night, then you're a fool. Nothing is ever that clear-cut."

Elias opened his mouth to say more when the leader called out above.

"Viljanen, my office now."

Elias' shoulders' sagged a little. He glanced up at their leader. "Yes, sir."

Tony didn't bother to acknowledge their leader, knowing he was better off if he didn't. Instead, he approached Marko who had cornered Sorenson and Saunders. He stopped in front of them. "You two will come with me for a mission briefing."

The brunette Saunders frowned. "I didn't think I was ready for missions yet. At least by how much Marko is yelling at me during class."

"Don't worry, it's not a fighting mission. It's just undercover work that we'll be monitoring."

Sorenson's eyebrow rose. "Undercover missions? The kind that everyone talks about people not coming back from."

"That's not true. I've come back from them as has Forcin, Elias, and even Marko. Some missions are more dangerous than others. As I said, we'll be monitoring the situation and will pull you out if it gets worse."

"And what if we refuse?" sneered Sorenson.

"Then you'll get eliminated for disobedience. We don't have time for those who don't participate in missions."

Saunders moved forward. "I'm fine with it. I don't want any more trouble to be honest. I've got enough as it is."

Tony glanced over at Sorenson. "What about you? Had enough as a punching bag for Elias yet? At least a mission will get you out of here, albeit temporarily but still."

"Your boyfriend is a pushover. I could take him if I wanted to, just like I can take you."

Marko laughed behind Sorenson. "If you value your life, you won't challenge Tony to anything. I know from experience."

Sorenson grinned at Tony. "What do you say? If I can beat you, I don't go on this mission."

Tony glanced over at Marko. "I can see what you mean about him being all talk and no action. Does he ever shut up?"

Marko shook his head. "Nope, have fun briefing him."

Sorenson tried to take advantage of Tony looking way, lunging for him. Tony moved so fast neither he nor Saunders saw it happen. They did, however, see Sorenson fall to the ground into a heap.

"I don't have time for fooling around. I have a mission to brief, so unless you want more punishment then let's be on our way."

Saunders flushed and tried to help Sorenson up from the ground, but was pushed away. Sorenson touched over his side and winced. "What the fuck, man?"

Tony pushed Sorenson's hands away to pull up his black sweatshirt. "It's a rib bruise. Next time you'll think twice about doing something that stupid again."

Marko looked at it. "Tony's right, you're going to be sore for the rest of the day. Maybe that will shut your yap when talking to your supervisor."

Sorenson grumbled under his breath and followed Tony and Saunders.

*********

Elias entered their leader's office and stood before the massive desk. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

The leader motioned to the chair in front. "Sit, Viljanen."

Elias sat down on the hard plastic chair and waited for the yelling to commence.

"Did I not tell you that you were to have no contact with Kakko?"

Elias nodded. "You did, sir."

"Then why pray tell were you meeting with him today?"

Elias hesitated. Should he really tell their leader that Tony contemplates suicide every single night with a handgun? Never the mind the fact that Tony has a hidden firearm. Wouldn't that go against everything he was taught about keeping your mouth shut?

"I'm waiting, Viljanen."

Elias looked down at the ground. "Every night Tony seems to do something odd. I was just trying to assure him that he wasn't alone. Not to offer my services or anything, just to reassure him."

"And what exactly is Tony doing?"

"He contemplates suicide."

The leader sat back in his chair. "Well, isn't that interesting? Not quite what I was expecting to happen with him. Since he's still alive, I'm guessing he chicken's out in the end?"

Elias winced at that phrase, somehow cheapening the pain Tony must be going through. "Yes, he stops himself after a few minutes."

"As he would. Have you learned anything else about Kakko?"

"No, not really. He spends his days in his office typing away on his computer. I can't see what he's typing so it's just watching him do that."

The leader typed into his keyboard. "Now you'll be able to see his monitor. It's locked out so people don't try to access the database to find out about sensitive data. Anything else that you need?"

"Not really. Though will I be getting training in lip reading? It's kind of hard to know what Tony is saying to others."

The leader stared at Elias. "You have no sound on the monitors? That doesn't sound correct as Samson himself told me he heard about Andersson's deal with one of the elimination team."

Elias didn't volunteer up that Samson was probably lying to get on the leader's good side, even if it did prove true in the end. "Well, my monitors don't have any sound."

"Show me."

With a sigh, Elias got up from the chair and headed out of the office with the leader in tow.

They walked down the stairs to the first floor and then into Elias' office area. Elias pointed at the monitors. "See? No sound on any of them."

The leader wandered over to the control panel and looked at the options. 

Elias glanced up to see Tony talking in his office with the two recruits. Judging by the looks on their faces, they weren't exactly thrilled with what Tony was telling them. Especially Sorenson who wore a sneer the whole time.

The leader tapped on a few buttons but nothing changed. He called out, "Samson, get in here!"

Samson sauntered in. "You called, sir?"

"Where is the volume control on these? Elias should be able to hear them as well."

"There isn't any that I'm aware of."

The leader glared at him. "Then how did you hear Andersson making a deal with the female elimination member?"

Samson smiled. "I guess I was being too literal in that case. I read their lips as they talked. I've been getting pretty good at it over the years if I do say so myself."

"I don't give a damn about that, have Tommy's crew fix it for sound. Reading lips is not what I want Elias to waste his time on."

Samson shrugged. "As far as I know, there's no way to switch between the monitors if they had sound. At least that's what the old supervisor told me when I started."

The leader shook his head. "I refuse to believe that." He tapped a button to call through the intercom system. "Portimo, get over to the surveillance rooms. I have a job for some of your men."

Tommy arrived a few minutes later. "What's the problem? Are the monitors not working?"

The leader pointed at the monitors. "There's no sound."

Tommy nodded. "Yes, that's how it is with these cameras. They're not configured to pick up sound."

"Is there a way to configure them?"

"Not that I know of. They were in place way before I came here. The former head of my department said there was no way to get sound from them, just visual."

"That's unacceptable. I want sound from these cameras."

Elias moved away from them to stand by a monitor that had two people on it. He felt around the outer edges of it.

Samson's eyebrow rose. "What are you doing, Viljanen?"

Elias found an indentation and pressed it. A green bar popped up on the screen as Elias kept pressing it. "Maybe we can just turn the volume up on these monitors. Yeah, it's not a good as a microphone but you'd hear some of the conversations."

The voices of the two people started to come out of the small speakers, faint at first and then loud enough for Elias to hear while standing next to it. "See, I can hear something coming out."

Samson laughed. "You'd have to do that for all of them if you're following someone around. Never mind the fact that your target doesn't talk much to begin with. What would be the point?"

"Maybe so, but then I don't have to try and read lips when he's talking to someone else like the recruits or Marko."

Tommy gaped. "You're following around Tony?"

Elias opened his mouth to respond, but the leader cut him off.

"That's irrelevant. This will work for now, but I expect it to be overhauled with cameras that do pick up sound in the next several months."

Tommy stared at the leader. "But there are hundreds of cameras in this building."

"I don't want excuses, Portimo, I want it done."

"Very well, I'll set up a team to replace the cameras, but we're going to need to purchase new cameras that pick up sounds. They're not going to be cheap, running $500 a piece or more."

Elias winced at the price, especially after multiplying it by several hundred cameras.

The leader glanced over at Tommy. "I'll take care of that part. I will let you know when they arrive." He turned to Elias. "This will have to do for now. I expect you to start a transcript log of his conversations. Whether it's with recruits or other supervisors."

Elias swallowed hard. He didn't really want to know what Tony said to the recruits to get them to do things. He doubted it was nice in the slightest. "Will do."

"Send me the log before you go to bed every night so I can review it."

Elias looked over at Tommy, who was giving him an annoyed look along with Samson.

He should have kept his mouth and learned to read lips.

*********

Tony leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling. The meeting had been a pain in the ass, not helping the fact that he had to lie to them. It was part of his job for sure but it didn't mean he had to like it.

He could give a fuck about Sorenson, but Saunders genuinely sounded like he wanted to improve in every aspect, even if he was starting to fall behind because of it. Tony hated sending someone like that out to basically be whored for the rest of his life. He'd rather just send Sorenson out and be done with it.

Maybe Saunders could get an injury or something before they sent him out. At least it would save him from being someone's sex slave.

Tony was about to contemplate it further when his screen buzzed. He started down at the file folder floating in the middle of his screen. He clicked on it and it came up with an encryption message asking for the key.

With a shrug, he typed out his security clearance code and waited. It flashed for a moment and then another password prompt came up.

Tony blinked at it. "I see you're sending me stuff again, Portimo."

He typed out the password but a message popped up with invalid. Tony tried another password and it too was denied. He thought for a moment and then typed in a third password.

The file folder disappeared into a white piece of paper show up in email form. All it said was, "They can hear you now."

Tony's eyebrow rose, turning to look at the camera. "Well look at that, little Elias can hear what I say now. How fun."

**********

Elias winced at Tony's words. Just what he needed, Tommy letting Tony know in advance. He should report Tommy to their leader, but he didn't want Tommy to forget him on some mission and decide to kill his ability to call in at an urgent time.

Not that he thought Tommy to be petty, though the look of annoyance he shot Elias when he walked out was enough to make him think twice about it. It was the kind of look that could make your life miserable in an instant.

Elias stared down at the laptop, wondering if he should write down what Tony just said or not. It would make it sound like Tony had received the heads up and that would mean implicating Tommy in the end.

He just chose to ignore it.

It might come back to bite him in the ass but really it had no relevance to the situation. It's not like Tony wouldn't have figured out the cameras were now wired for sound. He would be bound to run into one of Tommy's team while they were hooking them up.

Though it also meant that Elias wouldn't get squat from Tony now that he knew Elias was listening, thereby making his job even harder.

********

A knock sounded on Tony's door, causing him to glance up from his screen. He got up from his desk to shuffle over to the door. 

Tony's eyebrow rose when he spotted Marko on the other side. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Marko glanced around the hallway. "Can we talk?"

Tony looked back into his office. "We could if Elias hadn't wired my office for sound."

"He did what?"

Tony chuckled, pushing Marko out of the way so he could close the door behind him. "It's not a surprise considering he's tracking me for whatever reason. How about near the elimination rooms? As long as we're not in one of them, I doubt they can hear what we say."

Marko followed behind Tony. "Fine, let's head there then. Though you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you."

**********

Elias frowned at Tony's empty office. He tracked the two men through the open area to another part of the compound with the cameras. The other recruits would call this the Area of Death as no one came back from being in there.

He waited until they stopped near a far room before going over to the monitor that held that camera. With a flick of his fingers, he turned up the volume as loud as it would go.

Tony gave an annoyed look to Marko. "You can't be serious? Why the hell would he intervene when you're training a recruit like Sorenson?"

"I don't know, but I doubt our plan will work anymore. If he indeed gets chosen, they're not going to take him thanks to the prison tats."

"Well, there goes that plan. Though I'm having my doubts about picking Saunders. Despite him being behind in your class, he genuinely wants to improve. At least that's what I could assume from his eagerness to do whatever was needed."

Marko's eyebrow rose.

"You know what I mean, Make. Considering this mission is a suicide run, it doesn't seem right picking a kid who is trying, unlike that asshole Sorenson who just talks big. He could get raped to death and I wouldn't give a fuck either way."

Marko laughed. "I see your meeting with Sorenson went well. He's already pissing you off and you've only had to talk to him a few times."

"Something about that guy rubs me the wrong way. He's all talk and no action. Personally, I'd love to see him taken down a peg. Or several if he gets picked by them since he'll be used as a sex slave forever."

Elias stared at the monitor. The next mission was a suicide one? He had a feeling neither of the two recruits had any clue and probably would never. He winced at the idea of being anyone's sex slave for life.

No one deserved such a fate, not even loud-mouthed Sorenson.

Marko folded his arms across his chest. "So what now? Do you think we'll have to pick another recruit instead?"

"No idea, but maybe we can use this to our advantage. Seeing as Sanders is a bit behind in your class, why not get him injured somehow?"

"To prevent him from going on the mission? Do you think that would even fly at this point? They're already impeding our plan with Sorenson."

Tony shrugged. "No idea, but at least it would give us an excuse to have someone else go instead."

"I don't like this, Tony. If we get caught trying to prevent someone from being taken on a mission, we could lose our positions and very likely our lives."

Tony glanced away. "I wouldn't implicate you. In fact, I'd take the blame since it's my idea anyway. I mean, it's not like you're going to put the whole class on him at once. Just pair him with a newbie recruit who doesn't have his control down yet. He's bound to take a hit that way. It doesn't have to be life-threatening, just enough to knock him off the mission."

Marko studied Tony. "Why Saunders? You send most to their deaths without a care in the past."

Tony turned back to look into Marko's watery blue eyes. "Maybe I'm getting old or just weary of sending recruits to their death, but this kid doesn't deserve the kind of fate he's going to get on this mission. No one really does except Sorenson."

Elias moved away from the monitor with a frown. That didn't sound like uncaring Tony at all. He never gave a fuck about any of the other recruits that never came back, but now he cares about someone so useless like Saunders. Elias said to the screen, "What are you playing at, Kakko?"

He was so distracted that he didn't see someone move away from his doorway.

*********


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias' new mission has him questioning everything about his life inside this hell.

Tony walked down the hall the next morning to spot an irate Tommy supervising over one of his team members installing a new camera. "What's with you?"

Tommy turned to glare at Tony. "Elias had to open his big mouth and now my team has to install cameras that pick up sound everywhere. Do you know how many cameras that is?"

"You're installing them everywhere? I thought it was just my office."

"You're so important that we have to do it with all of them because Elias is tracking you."

Tony frowned at that statement. "If you're starting here, then it means you haven't done the cameras near the elimination rooms yet."

"Those have always had sound. Mostly because of foolish recruits trying to meet there for clandestine meetings and hookups. That's how Andersson was caught."

Tony's body stiffened.

Tommy cocked his head at the expression. "What?"

Tony swore under his breath and walked past Tommy without another word.

Tommy shrugged, going back to supervising.

**********

Tony headed for Marko to tell him of what happened, but he found Marko standing in the middle of two irate recruits. "What the hell is going on here?"

The two recruits turned to glare at Tony and then realized who they were looking at and backed away from Marko.

Marko glanced at the two recruits. "You two will be paired together today. It seems both of you have some things to work out. Just try not to kill each other as we need you for missions."

The two young recruits glared at each other from across the area.

Tony moved over to Marko, pulling him to the side. "We have a problem."

Marko glanced around the area for Elias, who was standing in his usual place. "I assume it has something to do with Elias."

"I have a feeling Elias heard us last night. No one bothered to tell me that those cameras have always had sound to them."

Marko shook his head. "I fucking knew it. Dammit, Tony, you're playing with fire and now I'm going to get dragged into it."

"I will take the blame if it comes to that. I don't sell my friends down the river to make myself look good unlike other people here."

Marko looked at his recruits. "Where is Saunders?"

Forcin moved forward. "He was taken away this morning. We all assumed he was being eliminated."

Marko turned to Tony. "They work fast, don't they?"

Tony moved away from Marko to stand in front of Elias. "Is it worth it? It is worth ruining everyone's life for?"

Elias shook his head. "I didn't do anything. Hell, I've been falsifying my logs to keep it quiet."

"Viljanen, to my office now."

Elias glared at Tony. "You knew he was above me, just waiting to implicate me. Fuck you."

Tony looked up at their leader, who stared down at him with intimidating eyes. He turned and left the area, ignoring the calls from their leader.

He didn't care anymore.

**********

Elias stood in front of their leader's desk.

"Sit down, Viljanen."

Elias sat on the hard plastic chair. "Look, Tony isn't doing anything weird. I know you might think that after my statement, but half of the stuff he says is missed because I can't type that fast. I grew up poor and didn't have access to stuff like computers. It's not like I got any training from Tommy or anyone else, so I'm trying my best to keep up. Some stuff does get missed."

The leader sat back in his chair. "Do you know why I gave you this assignment?"

Elias swallowed hard at the penetrating stare. "To see if Tony was doing anything weird which he isn't."

"No, it's to complete something that I've wanted to do for a while - get rid of Tony. He's becoming unstable and I don't want it to go any further, letting him recruit others to his side as he tries to take over this division."

Elias shook his head. "Tony could give a damn about that. I've watched him for almost a week now and he's shown nothing of the sort. If he was gathering others up, he's not doing it by meeting with them nor is he doing it via his computer. Most times, he's typing up mission logs and such. I've seen no indication that he wants or even desires that kind of power. If anything, I'd see him trying to escape from here than anything else."

"Well he will in a matter of words and you'll be the one who will take care of it. I expect you to eliminate him on the next mission. I don't care how you do it, but you will kill Tony Kakko."

Elias sat back in the chair with a stunned expression on his face.

"Your surveillance on him is over for now. Though if you still need access to it, feel free to use it. I will have you set up on a computer station in Tommy's area to draw up your mission to kill him. Feel free to ask Tommy or his team for help on building a mission profile, but do not mention it's for Tony. If they tell you it needs to go through Tony for approval, tell them I gave you permission to create it."

Elias shook his head. "I can't do this. I know I've said that I hated Tony in the past, but I can't kill him. He has way more training than I do and every time I've spared with him, he's always taken advantage of me."

"Then it's your job to find ways to give you the upper hand. Whether it's setting him up for failure in a trapped situation or something else. I want Tony Kakko eliminated."

Elias got up from his chair. "Then just shoot him in the Area of Death and be done with it. Why use me to do it?"

"Sit down, Viljanen."

"No, I will not do this. Find someone else to do your dirty work. You're pathetic to use others for your own needs. Be a fucking man and take Tony out yourself or are you too much of a pussy to get it done?"

The leader got to his feet and moved around his desk to stand beside Elias. "You had best be careful of what you say to me, Viljanen. I can have you killed in an instant."

"By someone else no less. I doubt you've ever killed anyone by your own hands. How pathetic."

"You are relieved of your duty, Viljanen."

Elias headed for the door. "Whatever, I don't really care anymore."

**********

Tony leaned against his door and tried to rein in every bit of his emotions. He could only imagine what the leader was telling Elias, but he doubted it was good.

It very likely Tony's own death sentence.

Would the leader be so bold enough to have Elias kill Tony? Not that Elias would last long enough in hand-to-hand combat anyway. He was too emotional when it came to Tony and really Tony could defeat him with both hands tied behind his back. It wasn't a fair fight.

Then again, when had their leader ever been fair?

Tony moved from the door to pace inside his office. He had to think of a way to get his plan into motion again. Having Elias try to kill him wasn't going to help it unless their leader had Elias do it outside of the organization.

The odds of that were slim to none since it wouldn't make sense for both of them to be on the same mission.

Tony was about to pace further when a knock sounded on his door. He froze in place wondering if it was their leader.

A voice came from outside the door. "It's Elias."

Tony opened the door. "Come here to kill me?"

"How did you know he asked me to do that?"

Tony pushed Elias outside, grabbing him by the wrist to drag along. "It's all over your face. We need to talk."

Elias struggled to break free of Tony's tight grasp. "The cameras are all wired for sound. Hell, even Samson can read lips so it's pointless to talk anywhere."

Tony pulled Elias toward the senior crew quarters. "There's one room he can't do it with."

***********

Tony pushed Elias inside his room. Elias whipped around to protest when he spotted Tony putting a finger up to his lips.

Tony sat down on his bed, reaching behind his legs and pushed something.

Elias blinked at it.

Tony glanced up. "No doubt you've seen me blackout the cameras."

"How do you do that?"

"It doesn't matter, we only have a few minutes before it reverts back. I assume the leader asked you to write up a mission profile in order to kill me."

Elias stared at Tony. "How did you know that?"

"It's the same thing I had to do with my former boss, the one that I ultimately replaced. The leader is predictable in many ways and that's one of them."

Elias paced around the room. "Except I refused to do it. He had me relieved of duty."

Tony gaped at Elias. "You did what? Why would you do something so stupid? At least more stupid than you normally are."

Elias leaned against a wall facing Tony. "I've had enough of this place. It's making me paranoid and on edge. I just want it to end."

Tony got up from his bed to stand in front of Elias. "Then do as the leader asked. Go up there and apologize to him any way you can and then write up the mission. If you fail in it, you'll be killed and thereby out of here for good."

Elias scoffed. "Like I want to do that. I'd rather beat the shit out of you instead of killing you."

"You'll get that chance if the mission goes how I think it will. Despite him wanting you to write it up, the leader will override it later if he wants to. The last time this happened, he had me and my boss locked in a metal cage for a fight to the death. It's all a game with him and nothing else. He probably gets off on it for all I know. Either way, make that mission and you'll get your chance to beat me."

"Do you really want to die that easily?"

Tony laughed, one of the first that Elias had ever heard, and pressed against Elias' body. "What makes you think you'll win, Viljanen? I've bested you every time we've sparred."

Elias pushed Tony off him. "I'm serious, Tony."

"So am I. Now get out of here before the camera comes back on. Get your ass up to the leader's office and ask for another chance. I don't care how you do it, just get it done."

"I don't like this."

Tony shoved Elias outside. "You don't have to like it, just do it."

***********

The leader glanced up from his computer monitor to see Elias standing in front of him. "Didn't I relieve you of duty, Viljanen?"

Elias stood at attention. "You did, sir. I'm here to convince you to change your mind. I've thought of a way to take down Tony that I think will be successful. I'd like permission to work on it."

The leader's thin eyebrow rose. "Is that so? What made you change your mind so suddenly?"

Elias grinned wide. "The thought of not getting a chance to beat the shit out of Tony. I'm sure you would have assigned someone else to do the deed and I realized that did sit well with me. I want that chance."

"And if I refuse?"

"That's your choice, of course. I will be disappointed, but ultimately it's not up to me. I just think my idea will be foolproof."

The leader nodded. "Very well, meet with Tommy to gain access to computer five. That's where the missions are created. Again, I will stress that you are not to tell them it concerns Tony in any way, even if it's offhandedly."

"Of course, I don't want others interfering with it anyway. I just need to learn how to set up missions."

The leader typed something out on his computer. "I've given you access to computer five. Make sure the mission is encoded to priority seven clearance when you're finished. That way only I will be able to see them."

"I will."

The leader studied Elias' rigid appearance. "That is all, Viljanen. I expect it to be finished by next week. The current mission will be done and yours will need to be prepped."

"I will get it done, that much I can promise you. Even if I have to stay up late."

The leader watched Elias leave and then typed something else into his computer. A message popped up with a picture of Samson in it. The leader smiled at it and opened the file.

*********

Tommy got back to the communications area in time to see Elias pestering one of his crew. He groaned and moved over to them. "You have no business being here, Viljanen, kindly leave."

A kid with bright yellow hair shook his head at the display. "Actually he does. Looks like he now has access to computer five. Should I train him?"

Tommy moved to look down at the screen showing Elias' access to the computer systems. "That can't be. He's not a high enough rank to use that computer."

The kid shrugged. "Maybe not, but it's in the system. It was added by a high-ranking admin with level seven clearance. Is that your level, sir?"

Tommy turned to stare at Elias. "The leader gave you access?"

"Yes, to write up a mission idea I have. Where is computer five?"

Tommy tapped the yellow-haired kid on the shoulder. "Go show him how to access it, Phelps."

Phelps nodded and got up from the computer. "Follow me."

Tommy stared down at the computer screen, wondering what was going on. 

Why was the leader giving Elias access to do missions now?

**********

Elias sat down at the computer terminal and stared at the screen prompt. "So what do I do? I've never really been around computers much to be honest."

"First you type in your access code. I looked it up and it's 781975."

Elias typed the code in the box and pressed enter. The screen flashed a few times and brought up template filled with various sized boxes. "Ok, now what?"

"You just fill in the boxes with the mission details. The top part is the operatives you want to use and their levels. If you don't know their levels, just leave that part blank. The next section is the tools you might need for the mission. Try to give a rough estimate of what you might need. They can always add to it later."

"Like guns, bombs, and the like?"

"Yeah, plus any vehicles like helicopters or vans. Like I said it doesn't have to be specific, just an estimate. It has to go through our leader for final approval and that's usually when stuff like that is added to it. Basically, it's to show how much money and resources we might need for the mission."

"Got it. Is the third section for the mission itself?"

Phelps looked at Elias. "Yes, this is the part where you want to go into as much detail as you can about the mission you're proposing. Where you want it to take place, how you want the operatives to accomplish it, and the overall outcome. The more details you give, the likelier it will get approved by our leader."

"Do I have to do this all today or can I add to it later?"

Phelps smiled and pointed to the save icon at the bottom of the page. "Just click that if you want to save and log out. The box next to it is what you click to send it for approval. I assume they gave you a week to knock this out amongst your training stuff."

Elias' eyebrow rose. "How did you know that?"

"You're a level three so it's always training for most of the day. It's not hard to figure out."

Elias looked up at Phelps. "Is that my rank? I figured I was level one or something since I'm still a recruit."

"No, it's based on how long you've been here and how much training you've had. You're the top of Marko's class and you've had extensive weapons training. That's much more than the lowly recruits who haven't even gone on missions yet."

Elias thought for a moment. "So does that mean Tony is like level five or something?"

Phelps shook his yellow hair. "No, Tony is level six. He's the highest ranking operative overall with our leader apparently being level seven. For the most part, he's the boss of everyone else while the leader is the boss of him. Though obviously anyone can take orders directly from our leader like my boss Tommy does."

Elias looked at the monitor again. "So where do you specify for this to be seen by only level seven ranks?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Well, our leader told me to make sure this was encoded with level seven security. He wanted to make sure that only he had access to the mission and no one else."

Phelps moved away from Elias. "I'll go ask Tommy about it."

Elias waited until Phelps left to start entering the mission details in the bottom portion of the form. He wasn't supposed to allow them to figure out it was for Tony and considering Tommy warned Tony last time, Elias wasn't going to take his chances of it happening again. He would be vague about it in case they came back.

Sure enough, Tommy came back with Phelps. Tommy looked down at Elias with a frown. "Why does this have to be level seven? That's not the typical mission request. Tony's missions can be seen by not only myself but Henkka as well. Mostly for us to prepare and figure out if what Tony proposed is feasible or not. Having this go straight to our leader bypasses that."

Elias shrugged, trying his best to keep his cool under the scrutiny. "That's what the leader told me to do. All I want to know is how to do that."

Tommy leaned down to point at a box on the top left corner. "Usually this defaults to your supervisor, Tony in this case, but if you need to change it to his boss then change the level to seven."

Elias clicked on the field and changed it from level six to level seven. A box popped on the screen warning that level seven was only seen by the highest level of operatives. He clicked the confirm button and it disappeared, changing the level rank to seven in its place.

Tommy frowned at it and moved back. "There, now it will only go to our leader for approval."

Elias went back to entering his mission into the fields. "Thanks, if I need anything else I'll let you know."

**********

Tony was in his office when a knock sounded on the door. He snorted at it, figuring it was Elias coming to bug him again. With a sigh, he opened the door and frowned.

There in front of him was Tommy.

Tony cocked his head to the side. "Um, what is it?"

Tommy pushed past Tony to get inside Tony's office. "We have to talk."

"Let me guess, Elias showed up in your area today?"

Tommy stared at him.

Tony laughed and sat down. "And I bet he made up some kind of mission that looks highly suspicious to a normal person like you?"

"You could say that - his mission will only be seen by the leader. I don't like this one bit."

"I assume it's a plot to kill me."

Tommy's eyes bugged out.

Tony sat back in his chair. "Don't look so shocked, you knew it was coming eventually. Especially by how I acted during the last mission. Our leader is relentless when it comes to that. I can't say I'm that surprised really, though how Elias will take me down should be interesting."

"This isn't something to joke about, Tony."

"It's fine. I know about it and I can plan on how to counter it. The thing is, I have a feeling it's not as cut and dry as our leader is making it seem."

Tommy shuffled over to sit in the chair by Tony's desk. "What do you mean?"

"If the leader is so hellbent on taking me out, who is going to be my replacement? The obvious choice would be Elias, but he's not ready to lead anyone nor capable of it. That leaves either yourself or someone like Henkka or Marko. That's not much to choose from really."

"Unless he means to eliminate the role entirely, to make himself be the supervisor as well as the leader."

"I don't buy that. It's too obvious and you know as well as I do that our leader likes to keep us on our toes. My luck he'll pick some snot-nosed kid from our recruits pile to mold into a new me."

Tommy leaned back in the chair to laugh. "That would actually be appropriate. Who would be the most annoying of the bunch?"

Tony leaned forward over his desk and swore. "That's exactly what he's going to do. I have a feeling Sorenson is going to replace me. If they take him off the upcoming mission, then I'll know it's true."

"The pissant who Marko keeps screaming about? Why the hell would he choose that loud mouth?"

"To discredit me. If it goes according to what I think it will, I'll be taken off the next mission and replaced. Then Elias can do his mission, whatever it may be, to kill me."

**********

At the end of the week, Tony stood beside the hallway to the van. He wasn't sure who was actually going to show up since their leader locked out the mission. He'd tried all manner of cracking the encryption to it but to no avail.

Hopefully, he wasn't being forced into this role by the leader. It would be fitting but their leader liked watching others murder their bosses more than sending Tony off to be a sex slave. He'd end up killing anyone that tried to lay a hand on him anyway. Not exactly a fair fight.

Then again, pitting Elias against him wasn't either. At least Elias was smart enough to play along so that maybe Tony could put his plan into motion. The time was approaching and he'd already been waiting for five years to pull it off.

Though it all hinged on what happened tonight. Was someone going to replace him? Would Sorenson finally get the boot once and for all?

A snort sounded before the dishwater blond Sorenson rounded the corner. He stopped in front of Tony and grinned.

Tony's eyebrow arched. "Something on your mind, Sorenson?"

Sorenson chuckled. "Just wait."

Tony was about to respond when he spotted two men with a smaller man in the middle. He blinked in confusion when he realized it was Saunders. He'd all but disappeared a week ago that Tony assumed he'd been eliminated.

The two men stopped near Tony to leave Saunders before turning around and heading the same way they came.

Tony moved forward and said, "Saunders, where the hell have you been?"

"Apparently getting modified for the mission. They removed the old tattoo that I got when I was a kid. Not sure what that was all about but it's gone now and I've been resting in the hospital wing."

Tony glanced over at Sorenson and noticed the crude prison tats were still there. He nodded at Saunders. "Well, I guess you're the only one going on this mission. I hadn't planned for a solo one but the leader must have made that choice later."

Saunders glanced over at Sorenson before responding to Tony. "He's not going?"

Tony pointed at Sorenson's arms. "He can't go with those tattoos. I'd imagine the leader has decided to promote him off his mission."

Sorenson grinned harder.

Tony ignored it and pointed to the hallway. "You might as well head for the van. It's at the end of the hallway. Pasi and Henkka should already be there. Good luck."

Saunders moved toward the hallway and then stopped to turn around to look at Tony. "I have a feeling this mission is more than it appears and I assume if I resist I'm dead."

"Yes, in both cases. I will tell you that if it succeeds, it will help us in the long run. It may not seem like it now and whatever might happen in the meantime, but it does."

Saunders let out a long sigh. "Then I guess this is goodbye. Tell Marko that he was the only one who seemed to believe I could do better. I'll never forget that."

Tony's jaw clenched as he watched Saunders shuffle down the tunnel. He knew what was going to happen to Saunders and he couldn't do anything about it.

Sorenson laughed. "How pathetic. A loser like him won't last a week there."

Anger raced through Tony's body. He knew it wasn't wise to let that kind of remark get to him, but he couldn't stop it. He walked forward and punched Sorenson in the middle of his chest.

Sorenson tumbled to the ground, gasping for a breath and pawing at his shirt.

Tony glanced down at him and said, "Now who's pathetic?"

***********

Tommy's eyebrow arched when he spotted Tony walking into his area with a grin on his face. "What's up with you?"

Tony picked up his headset and put it on. "Just teaching someone a lesson in respect."

"Where is Sorenson?"

Tony rolled his eyes before turning around to face their leader. The plan had been so obvious that a toddler could have figured it out. Either way, he had to play nice so he could execute the next step of the plan - figuring out what Elias' mission was and trying to subvert it. "He'll be along I'm sure."

"You're not leading this mission, Tony."

Tommy frowned, turning a little to look at Tony again.

Tony paid it no heed, connecting with the radio in the van. "Alright, if you're ready then proceed to the first mark. Let me know if you run into any problems."

Henkka's voice came over the channel, "Wasn't Sorenson supposed to be on this mission too? I only have Saunders."

Tony pushed his emotions to the side about that fact. "Saunders is doing a solo mission at this point. The mission changed at the last moment. Proceed as outlined."

Sorenson stumbled into the area and took a swing at Tony while his back was turned. Tony heard it and sidestepped the attack, causing Sorenson to miss and tumble to the floor.

Tommy bit his lip to stop himself from laughing over the comm. The last thing he needed was the leader giving him gruff in the middle of a mission.

Tony talked into his headset, "Tell the driver to re-route at the next light. There's a traffic accident a few blocks above."

Henkka's voice came back on. "He's already told me via the panel. We're re-routing for a few blocks and then back on course."

"Just don't overshoot your mark. Also, make sure Saunders is wired if he isn't already."

Sorenson got to his feet again and tried another shot at Tony when the leader intercepted his hand. His body stiffened.

"Enough of this nonsense. I didn't promote you to be a hothead who can't rein in his emotions. Either fix this right now, or you'll be elimination."

Tony grinned to himself and watched the team van finish their re-route.

***********

The van stopped in an alley. 

Henkka glanced over at Saunders, who wore a frown. "Looks like we've arrived. I'd hoped to have two of you for a better chance of success but I guess it all rests on you."

Saunders stared at the ground. "I guess so."

"Something on your mind, recruit?"

Saunders lifted his head. "You know Marko pretty well, don't you?"

"Uh, what does that have to do with anything?"

Saunders got up from his seat. "Nothing really, I just wanted to make sure he knew I respected him as a person. I know I struggled in his class, pretty much dead last of anyone, but I liked the fact that he never gave up on me. It shows how dedicated he is to his craft."

"You can tell him yourself later. We're not leaving until your part is done."

Saunders shook his head. "Somehow I don't think you are. I have a feeling this is my last mission. That's why I wanted Marko to know that. Will you tell him?"

Pasi glanced over at Henkka.

"Yeah, I'll tell him, but I'm telling you that you're coming back."

Saunders opened the side door. "I wish I had your confidence."

Henkka watched Saunders climb out into the alley to stand against the wall. The van door closed behind him and Henkka patched into Tony, "What the hell is going with this mission? I thought we are waiting for them to make contact and then pull Saunders back."

Tony's voice came over the radio, "Proceed to the next step. No one will show up if you're there."

"That's not what I asked, Tony."

"Do as I say and get to your next mark. I'm not going to repeat it twice."

Pasi knocked on the glass between them and the cab.

The van started up to move away from Saunders' position.

**********

Tony stared at the video footage of the alley.

Sorenson snorted behind him. "What a waste of time. No one in their right mind would fall for such a pitiful ruse."

Tony turned to glare at Sorenson. "I didn't ask for your opinion, recruit."

"I'm not a recruit anymore. Hell, I'm your rank now and I'm supposed to be leading this mission."

Tony looked back at the display. "Like you even know what that means. How many hours have you devoted to mission creation? How many hours for mission briefing and debriefing? Elias has more experience than you do at this point."

The leader spoke up from the right side. "He will have the training soon, that much is certain. For now, he will observe what you do for this mission. It will have a basis for my decision later."

"You mean the one that's supposed to amount to Elias killing me? I'm pretty sure I can take him with both arms tied behind my back."

Tommy happened to turn to see their leader shaking with anger. He swallowed hard and wondered if Tony would be offed right in front of them. Instead, he looked down at Malainen's console. "Anything from Saunders' ambient feed?"

Malainen shook his short black hair. "Nothing so far other than random animals scurrying about."

Marksson spoke up, "I have a black limo approaching Saunders' position. Not sure if they're just passing by or not."

Tony looked at the console. "Get an ID on the license plate."

Marksson typed something into his computer. "It's not coming up."

*********

The car door opened to reveal a man in a dark blue suit. He knelt down by Saunders and said, "Well, look at you. What's your name kid?"

Saunders glanced up. "Filip, but most just call me Saunders."

"Nice to meet you, Filip. I can imagine it's cold out here tonight, you might feel warmer back at my place. I can get you some food and a clean place to sleep."

Saunders shrugged. "Why me?"

The man grinned in the darkened light. "Because you remind me of a friend I once had in prison. A scared kid who tried to be out of everyone's way so he could survive."

Saunders frowned. "Wait, you aren't Arnesson? The guy with a green dragon on his forearm."

The man chuckled and pulled up his coat sleeve to reveal a green dragon. "Long time, no see kid. Come on, this neighborhood is shit and you might get messed with."

Saunders got to his feet. "That's wild that you would show up like this. What are the odds?"

The man put his arm around Saunders' shoulders, leading him back to his car. "Pretty much astronomical."

**********

Tony gaped at the feed coming into his ears. "Give me Saunders' prison information now."

Marksson typed into their system to access Saunders' record. "He spent six months in Oulu Prison with various people. I'm looking up the Arnesson name he mentioned."

Malainen made a face at the sound coming through his headphones. "Sounds like this Arnesson guy is trying to seduce Saunders. He's laying it on thick."

Tommy nodded. "Probably. If this guy is connected to what I think he is, he has to inspect the merchandise before handing it over for slavery."

Marksson finished typing into his computer and said, "Tomas Arnesson was let go from Oulu Prison six months ago. It doesn't mention how his sentence was lifted, just that he was let go for some reason. He supposedly works for a consulting firm in Lahti."

Tommy snorted. "Consulting firm? Is that what they call that now?"

Tony pushed a button on the console to patch into Henkka's van. "The mission is over, come back to base."

Henkka's voice came into Tony's ears, "You can't be serious. He's still out there."

"No, he isn't. They picked him up with a black limo. There's nothing left for you to do at this point as we're tracking him from here."

Henkka opened the side door to see a black limo turn the opposite direction. He frowned at it and came back inside.

Pasi knocked on the window again and the van started moving away from the alley.

Henkka leaned back in his seat while shaking his head.

**********

Tony took off his headphones and turned to the leader. "I assume Tommy's team can take care of the rest. It's now just a matter of tracking that limo and figuring out where their headquarters is. Though I doubt this Arnesson guy is stupid enough to bring Saunders there right off the bat."

"Indeed. No, there is nothing further. I will have Sorenson monitor the situation with Portimo."

Tony glanced over at Sorenson who wore a smug grin. "Have fun listening to them rape Saunders. It's likely to go on all night long."

Sorenson's grin fell from his face as Tony walked away.

"Not so fast, Tony. I'd like to have a word with you in my office."

Tony's jaw clenched. He really didn't want to hear what their leader had to say, but at this point playing along would serve him well. He turned around to face the leader again. "Right now?"

The leader nodded and looked over at Tommy. "Make sure Sorenson is briefed on how to operate the console and radio systems."

Tommy glanced over at Tony before responding. "Yes, sir."

Tony ignored the look and headed for the stairs. "Coming?"

The leader's face twisted with anger behind him.

**********


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has been marked for death. Who will ultimately pull the trigger to end his life?

Marko waited by the hallway as he always did when Henkka was on a mission. He half wondered what anyone thought of his appearance every time, but figured as long as the leader hadn't brought it up to Tony he couldn't care less.

Pasi came through the doorway wearing a frown.

Marko blinked at it and then saw the large frown on Henkka's face as well. He rushed forward to get the gear out of Henkka's hands. "What's wrong? I thought the mission was a success?"

Henkka looked into Marko's blue eyes. "A success? We left him to die."

Marko winced. "Yes, but it will get us closer to figuring out this new organization. Plus it's not like Saunders had any idea of what was going to happen anyway."

"He knew. In fact, he told me to tell you that he admired you for pressuring him to be a better fighter."

"But Tony didn't tell them beforehand. Or at least he's not supposed to."

Henkka shook his head. "It doesn't matter how he found out, Make, it's the fact that he's saying stuff like that to me. I try my best to not get close to these recruits because I know a good chunk of them will be cannon fodder. They're all going to die at some point unless they rise to the top like we did." He stopped to sigh. "I don't want to hear them feel remorse for their actions or pass on sad messages like these to you. It's not part of my job."

"I should have told you beforehand. Tony said not to, so I followed it, but if I'd known it would affect you like this...."

Henkka cut him off. "Don't patronize me, Make, I'm not in the mood for it tonight."

"I'm not patronizing you, I'm just trying to tell you why I didn't let you know. I'm trying to sympathize with you."

Henkka moved away from Marko. "Yeah well, right now I don't want to hear it."

Marko opened his mouth to protest further but then closed it.

He'd already done enough at this point.

***********

Tony entered the leader's office and stood in front of his desk, waiting for him to sit behind it like always.

Instead, the leader stood beside Tony. "That was out of line what you did tonight."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "Oh? So doing my job is out of line now? That's news to me."

The leader shook his head. "You had so much potential and now you've pissed it away thanks to Viljanen."

"It was already starting to piss away even before Elias arrived. I could see that you'd grown tired of me and were finding someone to replace me. It's the reason why I kept choosing recruits who had no desire to lead instead of former supervisors. That way you'd have to choose someone less than ideal like Sorenson, who by the way won't last a month without me."

"Maybe not, but I believe our time together is coming to a close."

Tony grinned at the leader. "You really think someone like Elias can kill me? I don't care how elaborate of a mission he comes up with it's going to fail. Then when it does, you'll have him eliminated too. What a waste of talent."

"You think of me as that petty? Viljanen will come back here regardless of how the outcome comes about. Though I doubt you're not going to try something else while it's happening. Escaping perhaps?"

Tony shrugged. "If I did, you'd be able to find me. They tagged us when we arrived here. What would be the point?"

The leader grinned wide at Tony. "I don't believe that for a minute. The fact that you know about them to begin with means you've figured out a way to remove them."

"And if I have? What are you going to do about it?"

The leader's eyebrow rose. "How did you figure it out?"

"Like I'm going to tell you. Suffice to say, if I wanted to disappear I could easily, but again what would be the point? I have no money to my name, no properties, nothing. Why would I escape when I have what I need here? Food, gear, and clothes are provided without question. Out there? Not so much."

"I don't believe you, nor do I believe that you haven't been hatching a plan to escape for a while now. That's the reason why Elias was watching you, to find out about your plans."

Tony smiled. "Then you're an even bigger fool than I thought you were. Like I'd brazenly give away that kind of thing to just anyone, assuming I'm making such plans."

"And that conversation with Marko about throwing Sorenson to the wolves while keeping Saunders back?"

Tony laughed. "To get you to fall for the ruse. I knew you were listening in and I knew Elias wouldn't say anything because he doesn't want me to beat the shit out of him later. I'm guessing it was Samson, your usual spying pet. God knows he'd love to get the drop on me after humiliating him a while back. People are so predictable when you ruffle their feathers enough."

The leader moved away from Tony to sit behind his desk. "Not even you are that smart to pull off such a thing. I have a feeling you liked Saunders and wanted to spare him the suffering. You've grown soft, Tony, and quite frankly I'm done talking to you. You are to remain in your quarters for the rest of your time here."

"And if I don't comply?"

The leader glared at Tony. "Don't tempt me with such things. It might be the last thing you ever do."

**********

Elias frowned at the computer monitor and started to wonder if this was a good idea.

He wanted to beat the crap out of Tony, not kill him. The whole point of sparring with someone is getting another chance to beat them. If he killed Tony, that would end and he had nothing left to replace it.

The prospect of such a thing didn't sit well with him. 

His whole reason for pushing on was to best Tony. All of the training, all of the painful lessons from Marko, all of it was to beat Tony. That was his motivation for everything.

And yet, he was now tasked with killing that motivation.

Assuming he'd actually get lucky and manage to kill Tony, what then? What would motivate him to survive this hellhole for anything longer than he had to? Would he result to killing himself to end it faster?

"You think too much. Just write the damn mission."

Elias turned to see Tony behind him. "How the hell did you get in here?"

Tony leaned down, typing in the box for requested gear. "You might as well go all out if you're trying to take me down."

Elias' eyes bugged out when he read what Tony was typing. He listed several cases of ammunition, grenades, various handguns, and rifles. "The leader isn't going to approve this."

"Sure he will if it's successful. I'm making sure it is."

"You want to die? Why not off yourself with the handgun you hide under your bed?"

Tony winced at the mention of it. "That won't help you with your mission. Besides, that's the easy way out which is what I end up telling myself every night. If I'm going to go out, I might as well go out with a bang."

"But this isn't very fair. I want to beat you one on one not with an arsenal of gear."

Tony turned to wink at Elias. "Just because we're loading up with stuff doesn't mean it might not come down to that. The question is, are you truly ready to best me, even without the gear?"

Elias looked away, doubt eating away at him.

Tony's eyebrow rose. "I see, then you might as well use the gear. It's quicker and less having to think of a way to justify taking out your only motivation to live."

"Too late, I'm already doing that. What the hell will keep me going if I do manage to kill you?"

Tony smiled, turning his head so that his face was right in front of Elias'. "I'm sure you'll find something to occupy your time with. Hell, you can aim for trying to best Marko if you want. I will tell you that it took me thousands of hours of practice to finally beat him, and all it left me with was an empty void that needed to be filled again."

"Exactly my point, Tony. Why don't you just save face and apologize to the leader? Then you can stay and I can get my chance at beating you once and for all."

Tony pulled back to stand up straight. "I can't do that. It's all falling into place now and I've known for a while the leader wanted to replace me with one of the recruits. My time is coming to an end and it all hinges on this mission being submitted." He stopped to nod at the screen. "Just make up some way to off me using that gear. Maybe setting me up in some secluded location or a booby-trapped warehouse. It doesn't have to be fancy at this point."

"Why do I get the feeling that this is part of some other plan? It doesn't make sense for you to just give up like that."

"Let's just say some things might come into play later. Just finish the mission and submit it to the leader. I have a feeling he'll change some things, but beyond that I doubt he'll care about the gear being used to accomplish it," said Tony, his eyes twinkling in the low light.

**********

Tony headed for Henkka's domain next. He knew Samson was watching him, but at least Elias was taken care of for now. Enough motivation to finish writing the mission while giving Tony things to carry out his own plan.

Henkka's eyebrow rose as Tony approached his area. "Why are you here?"

Tony walked past Henkka and into his back area.

Henkka followed him inside. "What the hell, Tony?"

Tony put his finger over Henkka's lips. He pointed to the box that contained his gun and whispered, "When the time comes, I'm going to need that and a few clips as well. It's starting, Henkka."

Henkka's eyes widened.

Tony smiled and removed his finger. "It was nice working with you. I've always had a soft spot for a man who can provide the best weapons. I won't forget it."

Henkka whispered back, "You're being targeted?"

"Yes, and if it goes according to plan, you'll know. Then it's just a matter of dots."

Henkka grinned and said loudly, "Indeed. Have a good mission, Tony."

Tony winked at him and headed outside.

Henkka took a deep breath and went back to work on the gear he'd been repairing. He hoped Tony knew what he was doing.

Though would Henkka have the courage to do what had been asked of him so long ago?

*********

Marko was working out when Tony found him. He glanced up and shook his head. "Not tonight, Tony. I'm not in the mood."

Tony stood beside the treadmill Marko was running on. "What's wrong with you?"

Marko glared at Tony. "Didn't I say that I didn't want to talk?"

"You did, but like you always pester me with - keeping it inside will kill you."

Marko rolled his eyes. "Now you fucking listen to that."

"Out with it, Paasikoski."

Marko's jaw clenched thinking back. "I didn't tell Henkka that it would be a suicide mission with Saunders."

"And? You weren't even supposed to know yourself, let alone him. That's normal."

Marko turned to look into Tony's brown eyes. "Yeah, but Henkka was pissed at me for it. Apparently, Saunders yammered on about thanking me for pushing him on or something and now Henkka won't talk to me anymore."

"I can see why he'd be pissed, but I have a feeling the reason is not what you think it is. Henkka is angry that he had to witness it, not that you didn't tell him ahead of time. He knows full well that any recruit might get killed on a mission and has sent several to their deaths without knowing it." He stopped to sigh. "The problem is, Saunders figured it out or was told by Sorenson that he was going on a suicide mission. The only way to let you know how he felt was to tell me first before the mission and then again to Henkka. Maybe he was trying to tell himself that it was ok and it would be over soon. Whatever the case, Henkka found out and is now angry."

Marko's hands balled up into fists at his sides. "If it was Sorenson who told Saunders, I'm going to fucking kill him in tomorrow's class."

"He won't be there, that much I can tell you. He's being trained to be my replacement."

"Wait, does that mean you've been marked?"

"Yes, as of this evening. I'm to remain in my quarters for the rest of my stay here. As you can see, I'm obeying that to the letter."

Marko got off the treadmill, wiping off the sweat from his face on a nearby towel. "Just like you always do when people tell you to do something. I'm amazed that he isn't having you followed around."

Tony turned to point at the camera overhead. "I'm sure his lackey Samson is doing just that. To be honest, I could give a damn at this point. It's all up to Elias' mission to kill me."

Marko shook his head. "Elias doesn't have a shot in hell of defeating you. Hell, I barely defeated you for those months leading up to you finally winning a match and I've been doing this for over a decade."

"It doesn't matter if he succeeds or not, just that it happens."

"So this is basically the end of you bugging me with pointless crap?"

Tony laughed. "I guess it is, but I couldn't ask for anyone more caring of my feelings."

"I'm going to miss your ugly face watching from above every class. Watching Sorenson do it will only make me wish I could ram his face into the cement repeatedly. Then he'd come close to yours."

Tony griped Marko's shoulder. "It means a lot that you'll miss me. Keep beating the shit out of the recruits for me when I'm gone."

Marko pulled Tony into a hug and whispered into Tony's ear, "Don't fuck this up, Kakko."

*********

Tony waited a few days before trying to see if he could hack into the system to see if Elias submitted his mission.

To his surprise, he still had access to his office despite ordered to remain in his quarters.

Tony sat at his desk and logged into the system. He had a feeling they would block him from seeing anything having to do with new missions, but they popped up in his queue despite it.

The next mission after his elimination was trying to get another terrorist from Russia bumped off. Sorenson handling that made Tony chuckle to himself. He'd be so out of his element that he'd end up hanging himself in the process. It was a damn shame Tony wouldn't be around to see Sorenson fail so spectacularly.

Tony scanned the missions, but Elias' mission didn't pop up. He wasn't surprised since Tommy told him it was a level seven mission and Tony was level six. 

Though that wasn't going to stop him from trying.

Using tricks that Tommy had taught him years ago, he went through the back side of the program, scanning for venerable areas to exploit. Tommy was usually good at patching up such things so outside people couldn't access their databases, but he always left one open for internal people to find. 

It was a mindless game for Tommy because he knew only the most dedicated would find a way in. Most recruits didn't even have access to the computers to start with and he tracked everything his own team did, despite them not being aware of it. It was his baby after all and the fewer people inside it the better.

However, Tony was different. Tommy gave Tony access to stuff that most wouldn't even see nor try to access it. Though he was smart enough to make Tony use actual hacking tools to pull it off, so it didn't come back to bite him in the ass later.

Tony stopped scanning and grinned. He'd found a way in and soon he'd get to see what Elias had come up with. Admittedly, he wanted to see if Elias had been creative enough with his steps. The leader would be counting on such a thing in the long run.

He just hoped Elias made it somewhat plausible to pull off and it didn't include such things like hacking satellites to take Tony out from space. That was just overkill.

With some fast typing on Tony's part, every second counting at this point, the highest level missions popped up on his screen. Most he wasn't even aware of or had seen beforehand. Several were concerning Tony and most amounted to him being replaced. 

The thing that caused Tony to pause was people above the leader's level submitted them. The fact that military leaders and politicians gave a shit about Tony to actually submit reports for his elimination was a bit surprising. What had he done to deserve this kind of requests?

Tony clicked on one that a military leader submitted. Apparently, Tony had taken out one of his undercover men without asking who they were on a mission. The rest was more of the same, about Tony being too reckless to serve on missions and they wanted him removed. Some of them dated back to almost five years ago.

He wondered why their leader didn't mention any of these in the past. They all seemed to be above their leader's rank and yet it appeared to Tony that he was ignoring all of them.

With a shrug, he clicked on Elias' mission. A warning message popped up on Tony's screen saying that only level seven ranks could read it, unlike the other missions he'd clicked before. He tried to click through the message but it locked him out of it.

Tony sat back in his chair and thought for a moment. He could try another angle, but at this point he'd been logged in for a while. Instead, he switched off his computer to clear the screen of information. 

He didn't need the leader to decide to kill him before Elias had the chance. He'd play by the rules for the most part until that time.

***********

Elias laid in bed, knowing it was tonight he had to kill Tony. He'd tossed and turned all night long, only managing to get a few hours of sleep before nightmares woke him up again.

His mind told him he wasn't good enough to beat Tony like this, even with an arsenal that he now had at his disposable.

Tony would avoid it all, no matter what he did.

That was the thing, which bugged Elias the most. 

This was a losing mission and yet Tony was pushing him along to do it. Tony knew as much as he did that Elias was no match for him. Why push their leader's hand to eliminate him?

It didn't make sense to Elias and there had to be more to it than him just offing Tony with little resistance. The question now was if Tony was planning something on the side and was using Elias' no-win mission as a cover.

Though a cover for what?

Elias sat up in bed and thought back to every instance he'd had with Tony lately. Tony had been showing emotions like happiness. It was odd for a man who usually didn't show any emotion at all. All of his moves prior to this were cold and calculated.

Now Tony was laughing and smiling. It was almost as if he was a completely different person and it was very striking from what little Elias knew of him. He had to wonder if Tony was losing his mind somehow.

Did it really matter at this point?

If Tony was so determined to die, then what right did Elias have to question it, even if it went against everything he knew about Tony?

Then again, maybe he didn't really know Tony at all.

*********

A knock sounded on Tony's office door.

He knew it was time to leave this place, such as it was.

The knock sounded again.

Tony got up from his desk, looking around and saying to the empty room, "It's been fun, office. Hopefully, Sorenson doesn't fuck with you too much."

The knocking started once more.

Tony shuffled to the door, typing out the code to open it up one last time.

Two burly men were standing outside. One of them looked at Tony and said, "You need to come with us, sir."

Tony smiled at them. "It's time, huh? Well, let's get this over with."

The two men flanked both sides of Tony and walked away from the office.

***********

Elias showed up at Henkka's domain.

Henkka glanced up at him, taking in the bloodshot eyes and the weary expression on Elias' face. "Yeah, I know too. Let me get your gear."

While waiting, Elias watched Henkka go into the back and pull out a duffel bag filled with gear. He blinked when he saw Henkka stop in front of one of the boxes to stuff in Tony's gun and clips.

Henkka came out and put the bag on the table. "Here you go."

Elias pointed at the bag. "But why did you...."

Henkka reached out to touch over Elias' lips. "That's what you asked for; I just forgot to put it in before you got here. Good luck on your mission."

Elias was about to protest further after Henkka removed his hand, but he decided against it when Henkka glared at him. Instead, he shouldered the bag and said to Henkka, "Um, thanks."

**********

Tony and the two burly men stood beside the doorway he'd waited by many times in his life. He was actually going to miss it, despite how ridiculous that sounded. Why miss something inanimate as a doorway?

He didn't have to wait long for Elias to shuffle into view. The key was to not let Elias know that anything about his plan had changed. It would have helped if Tony actually knew what Elias' mission was, but it didn't matter anymore. He'd wing it if it came to that.

Elias stopped in front of Tony and swallowed hard. "Looks like you and I are on the same mission."

"Indeed we are. May the best man win."

Elias shook his head. "This didn't need to happen at all. Why are you letting it happen?"

Tony smiled at Elias. "Sometimes you have to figure out when your time is coming to an end. There's no point in dragging out the evitable any more than you have to. On that note, we might as well get this over with."

With a sigh, Elias motioned to the two men. "I can take it from here."

The two men started to walk away when one of them stopped and turned around. He looked at Tony. "Despite what I've heard, I think you're the best operative we've ever had. The way this is going down is an insult to your talents."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "What exactly do you know about this mission? Is there more than meets the eye?"

The man was about to speak further but the second one pulled him away.

Tony glanced over at Elias. "I sincerely hope you're not planning on nuking me on a mission. That's not very fitting."

Elias bit his lip and pushed Tony forward. "Come on, let's go."

*********

Both got into the van and sat opposite of each other.

Tony glanced at the large duffel bag of gear. "All that to take me out. Interesting."

Elias picked up the in-ear monitor and put it in. "You know you could apologize and end this right now?"

Tony sat back in his seat. "And deprive you of beating me? That doesn't sound like the Elias I know."

Elias listened for a few seconds and said, "Preceding to the first part. I assume Tony doesn't need to be wired up?"

Tony's eyebrow rose.

Elias sighed at the message coming back. "Understood."

Tony studied Elias' rigid posture. One hit would topple him over in an instant since he was so tense. He half wondered what Elias was planning as they'd been driving for a while. Apparently, they weren't going to shoot him in the decontamination building as Tony thought they might.

The van stopped and Elias turned to Tony. "Get out."

Tony opened the van door and studied the large windowed building in front of him, wondering if they were going to fight inside of it. Renting out such a thing seemed to be a little over the top for just taking out one operative.

Elias pointed a gun at the middle of Tony's back and pushed him forward. "Go inside that door."

Tony turned his head a little and grinned. "Just like old time's sake. Except I was the one holding the gun."

"Now, Tony."

Tony moved forward slow enough for Elias to keep the gun on him. Whatever was inside was either going to kill him or tell what Elias wanted to do with him.

The door opened to reveal a spotlight over a single chair.

"That's your grand plan? I'm a little disappointed in you, Elias."

Elias shoved him forward with the gun over to the chair. He dropped the bag of stuff on the ground and turned to face Tony. "Sit down."

Tony looked at the chair and then back at Elias. "Make me."

Elias pushed Tony down on the chair with little resistance. He grabbed some rope from the ground and started to tie Tony's hands behind his back.

Tony laughed. "Elias, I never knew you had a kinky streak in you. Do I get a blindfold too? In case, you can't stomach to look into my eyes before you shoot a helpless man?"

Elias froze, looking down to see a blindfold on the ground. "How did you know that?"

"Oh, call it a hunch. That's what all of the execution style murders are using these days. The less guilt the shooter has to endure from pleading eyes the better."

Elias got up and retrieved the blindfold. "I should have brought a gag."

Tony laughed as Elias put the blindfold over his eyes. "I'm only telling you what you already know. Just think of me as your conscience through all of this. Though not for long if you intend to kill me tied up. Whatever happened to that fair fight you always prattle on about? How is this fair?"

Elias stood in front of Tony. "You know as well as I do that I wouldn't be able to beat you one on one. I can't even beat Marko, let alone the only person to beat him - you, in this case. I figured this would be the quickest way to get the job over with."

"Then why did you bring a whole bag of gear with you? Seems like a waste to me."

"That was to make you think I had an elaborate mission planned out. You fell for it hook, line, and sinker."

Tony laughed, his head looking at Elias without his eyes seeing. "Aren't you the devious mastermind? It's a shame someone like Sorenson is going to take over my place. You'd be the ideal candidate now."

Elias pulled out a handgun from his pocket. "I've never been the leading type."

"That's true. I'm going to miss you, Viljanen. You were the only person to challenge me every step of the way. Most recruits just fall into line and become generic yes men, but you surpassed them all and still kept pushing me. I won't forget that."

Elias swallowed hard and cocked the trigger. "Goodbye Tony."

*********

Tommy had been listening to their conversation, all the while wondering how Tony would get out of such a thing. 

Not that they could see him as the visual on the building was blocked somehow. His team scrambled around him to figure out what was jamming the signal, but Tommy had a feeling it was Tony himself doing it. 

Either way, he held his breath when he heard the gun cock in the silent building. Would Tony talk his way out of it or would he actually escape from the bonds that Elias fashioned?

On the other hand, maybe Tony would fail and Elias would kill him.

Tommy's jaw clenched at the thought of Tony dying like that, a helpless prisoner of war.

When the gunshot rang out in his ears, he staggered to stand up.

**********


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan is set into motion. Will it go off without a hitch or will they end up dead in the process?

Elias stood frozen in place, the gun smoking in his hand while another gun aimed at his crotch.

Tony smiled at him, getting free of bonds in time to push Elias' hand up enough to miss. After removing the blindfold, he put his finger over Elias' lips as he knew Elias would be questioning such a thing.

Elias frowned around it.

Tony waited for Elias to react to whatever might be coming through his ears and removed his finger.

Elias glanced at Tony and mouthed, "What do I say?"

Tony mouthed back, "Say yes to killing me."

Elias stared at him.

Tony rolled his eyes and whispered, "Just do it."

Elias swallowed hard and said, "Yes, the mission is complete. Tony is dead."

Tony waited for Elias to finish before pulling him to the side to get the bag. He shoved it into Elias' hands and walked further into the warehouse. 

Elias frowned as they shuffled away from the light to the other side of the room.

Tony felt around to find another door to the outside. He shoved Elias forward and closed the door as quietly as possible.

Elias grabbed Tony's arm and shook his head.

Tony ignored it, moving along the south side of the building. He took out a GPS like device from his coat to pinpoint their location.

Elias shook Tony's arm to get his attention and pointed at his ear.

Tony reached out to pull it from Elias' ear and tossed it on the ground to smash with his shoe.

Elias stared at him.

Tony pointed to a gathering of bushes and whispered, "Come on, we need to get out of here before they figure out I'm still alive."

"But where are we going? They'll find us."

Tony snorted. "No, they won't."

**********

The leader frowned at the dead signal coming from Elias' comm. "Viljanen, answer me."

Tommy tapped Marksson's shoulder. "What's going on with Viljanen's earpiece? It was working fine before this."

Marksson shook his head. "I don't know, sir. The signal just stopped transmitting."

Sorenson patched into the driver's radio. "Go inside to find out what's wrong. Elias isn't answering and I want to know why."

Tommy hid the smile that was trying to form on his face. Tony had gotten away and now it was a matter of him escaping their eyes for long enough. He knew for sure by the fact that Elias' earpiece was dead. Tony would have smashed it as soon as Elias confirmed Tony was dead.

The driver radioed in, "No one is inside the building. Kakko's body isn't here and neither is Viljanen. All that's here is a chair with rope and blindfold."

Sorenson growled over the comm. "Find them!"

"I'm only one person, you might as well send out more than just me."

Sorenson turned to Tommy. "Why the hell did you approve a mission of just one man?"

Tommy motioned to their leader. "He's the one who approved it. In fact, I didn't even know what the mission was until now. I knew Tony was to be killed but I didn't know how."

The leader's jaw clenched. "Get more men to that position now."

Sorenson patched into the field groups. "We need you at the corner of Finlandiakatu and Mennakatu. Operatives Tony Kakko and Elias Viljanen are on the loose and I want them captured immediately!"

**********

Tony and Elias ran over to another building to stand on the side of it. "Good thinking of only having a driver. Any more than that and we'd have to open fire on them. Though I wouldn't put it past our former leader to send out more teams. At the moment, we need to vacate this area as soon as possible."

"What the hell is going on, Tony?"

Tony patted Elias on the shoulder. "We're escaping, Elias. It's not hard to figure out."

Elias stared at him. "We are? But they will find us."

"Not if we're careful, they won't. Just trust me on this, I've been planning it for the last five years and I'll be damned if I'm going to let it fall apart now."

"Then why did you need me?"

Tony moved away from the building to hurry over to another while dragging Elias along. "It's a two person job for now until we manage to get over the border into Russia. After that, you can go wherever you want."

Elias stopped short. "Russia? You're kidding, right? They won't let us over the border."

"I never said anything about anyone letting us do anything. We're going to sneak in. There are several holes in their outer border that I've been studying over the years. I just need to get to them."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just go to Sweden or Norway?"

Tony stared at Elias. "You think it's easier to traipse the whole of Finland than cross a border about 250 kilometers away?"

"We're that close?"

"We are but now we need to get out of this area first. Let's steal that car down the block."

Elias grabbed Tony before he could head there. "What if the driver puts up a fight?"

Tony pointed to the gun still in Elias' hand. "What do you think that's for? It's shoot to kill now, Elias. Anyone who gets in our way will be eliminated."

"I don't know if I can do that."

Tony moved away from Elias. "Then you'll die. It's as simple as that - shoot them or be shot. Personally, I'd rather you stay alive at least until we split up in Russia. Beyond that, I don't care what you do."

**********

They approached the car idling as it was parked. Tony snorted at the prospect, trying to open the driver side door. It was locked, so he smashed in the window with the butt end of his gun.

Elias looked up to see a man rushing for them. "Um, we have a problem."

Tony raised his gun at the man. "Do you feel lucky tonight? I'm pretty sure you can't dodge a bullet."

The man backed away with his hands in the air. "So-rry. I'm...."

Tony opened up the car door and yelled out to Elias, "Get moving!"

Elias scrambled around the car and apologized to the man before getting inside.

Tony gunned the engine, racing away just as the leader's forces approached the first building.

**********

The field operative called into communications, "We're scouring the area but so far we're not finding any trace of them. One of my men did find the smashed remains of a comm unit. I'm guessing this is Viljanen's."

Sorenson groaned. "Just keep looking."

The leader turned to Tommy. "Why aren't we tracking Viljanen by his tag?"

Tommy pointed at Malainen's console. "He's been trying to since they were listed as missing. It's being jammed at the moment. I'd imagine Tony is to blame for that."

"And just how did Tony get his hands on something like that?"

Tommy shrugged. "That I don't know. He's gone on several missions filled with that kind of stuff just laying around, it would take much to snap it up when no one was looking. It's not like we search operatives when they come back from missions."

Sorenson nodded. "Samson told me he had a device to block out cameras for a few minutes, that he used it usually to change for bed without anyone seeing."

The leader glared at Sorenson. "And why wasn't I notified of such things?"

"Probably because Samson was trying to save his own ass. Either way, it's hardwired into that room since he never did it in his office or anywhere else. It's probably easy enough to find if we search his room."

The field operative cut in again. "Looks like they've acquired a car, according to a scared man who pissed himself when someone looking like Tony pulled a gun on him. He says another long-haired man was with him. I assume he means Elias."

The leader chimed in. "Ask him for the license plate number."

"He says it's FI522222."

The leader glanced over at Tommy who was bugging Marksson for information.

*********

Tony sped down the highway, occasionally looking at the mirrors for any cops. "Something on your mind, Viljanen?"

Elias sat with his arms folded across his chest. "I can't believe you planned this for five years. Why the hell didn't you try it earlier?"

"I was going to, but then the man I was going to use got killed. Jani was his name. Either way, I had to bide my time until I found someone to replace him. You wouldn't believe how many shitty recruits we got over the years that ended up dying on missions. Finally, you showed up on my list and I knew I found the right person for the job."

Elias scoffed. "And yet all I did was push back on you. Were you sincere when you said you liked the fact that I pushed back?"

"Of course I was. Everything I said to you leading up to this moment was sincere, even when I had to beg you to take the assassination mission. It all had to fall in line before I could start this. Namely for you to get on the leader's good side and me to get on his bad side. That way we'd be pitted against each other and I could use that to get out."

Elias grumbled to himself. "So all I am is a pawn to you."

Tony changed lanes to pass another car. "That's not all you are to me. Trust me, Elias, if I could have taken Marko, Henkka, or Tommy out then I would have. They're all too obvious choices for this that the leader would have figured it out long ago. I needed someone not so obvious, namely you. You should be thankful for getting out of that hellhole. I can't imagine you were exactly happy there."

"I wasn't. I thought it would be better than prison, but other than not having to dodge guys trying to rape me it was the same confining space that I came from."

"Exactly my point. I needed someone like me who wanted to push a button to start over their life. You and I are alike more than you care to admit. Both of us came from horrifying backgrounds and were sent to prison for our deeds. I'm giving you the chance to fight for a life you've never had."

Elias shook his head. "You place more value on me than I deserve."

Tony smiled and headed off an exit. "Maybe I just know you more than you know yourself."

*********

"The license number is registered to a Paavo Holianen. I'm trying to get into the car database to see if we can track it," said Marksson.

The leader nodded. "What about Elias' tag?"

Tommy shook his head. "It's still being blocked. I'm not sure if Tony had it removed or if he's still jamming the signal."

Sorenson talked into his headset, "Any news with the helicopter tracking them?"

A voice of a field operative chimed in. "No, sir. The pilot is saying it's too dark and cloudy to track something like people. Our best bet is to wait until morning."

"If we wait until morning, we'll lose our chance at finding them!"

"It's not like they're going to get that far. Even with a car. We're in the middle of the country and every way is quite a distance to travel in one night."

Marksson spoke up, "I've got a fix on the car. Though it's stationary at the moment."

Tommy looked at Marksson's display. "It's 50 kilometers away. How the hell did Tony drive that fast without being spotted?"

Sorenson patched into the field teams. "We have a location for Kakko and Viljanen. I'm sending it to you now."

***********

Elias frowned as Tony parked the car in a deserted part of land. "Why are we stopped here?"

Tony got out of the car. "They're going to track us eventually so we need to ditch it. It's going to be a good three-kilometer walk to the house so we might as well start now."

Elias exited the car, grabbing the duffel bag with the gear. "What house?"

"My house. Or at least it's mine now."

Elias stared at Tony.

Tony grabbed Elias' arm. "Come on, we have to get out of here before they track us."

Elias shuffled along the dirt road that led to a forest of trees. "We're walking through that?"

"Yes, it's on the way to the house. In fact, most of the walk is through trees. Did you pack a flashlight?"

Elias flushed.

Tony pulled out a small flashlight from his pocket. "Good thing I did. Though if I hear anything, we're going to have to navigate by moonlight."

They walked into the trees and stumbled along the narrow dirt path. Elias dodged tree limbs as he followed Tony into the forest. "How did you acquire a house?"

"The same way a former convict does - I stole it. The one advantage of tracking assholes like Runov is figuring out their places of residence. Once we've taken them in, the house just sits empty until someone claims it. So that's what I did under a fake name."

"But how did you get money for that? I can't imagine it was free."

"The same way I got the house - I stole it. Again, they leave bank accounts to rot so I siphoned minimal amounts of money out of them. Use enough accounts and presto you have a million dollars to your name. Well, to your fake name at least."

Elias stopped short. "You have a million dollars?"

"Well, kind of. Technically, I have no way of getting it out other than buying things like property. I'd have to obtain a fake ID to get it in person."

"Speaking of IDs, are they going to call in the authorities to get us back?"

Tony walked over a small creek. "We're dead, in case you've forgotten my speech to you early on. They faked our deaths in prison so they could bring us there. Only the wardens know the real truth and if any of them decides to talk, they'll be killed off."

"Yes, but they can make up some kind of name and use pictures of our faces to get people to notice us."

"Never going to happen. The leader is furious right now for letting it get this far in the first place. He's not going to admit to his superiors that he fucked up and let two operatives walk away with little resistance. No, he'll have our field teams run themselves ragged trying to find us."

"Won't that weaken them?"

Tony moved over a larger creek with several steps. "Indeed it will, which is what I'm hoping will happen. They'll be sloppy while we'll be one step ahead of them."

Something sounded in the distance, causing Tony to turn off his flashlight. He whispered to Elias, "Now it begins."

***********

Elias gasped for a breath, rushing as quiet as possible through the forest and hoping he wouldn't trip on something. He'd never been in here and from what he saw with the flashlight lit, it wasn't an easy terrain to navigate.

He could hear Tony's harsh breath in front of him and he tried to keep that close as possible, he wouldn't get lost in here.

In the far distance, he could hear men calling out and flashing large lights to look around the area. Most he didn't recognize but he assumed they were the field operatives he never saw.

Tony's breath started to sound weird, like it was going down somehow.

Elias lunged forward to grab Tony's arm before he fell to the ground. He held Tony's vibrating body tight to get him upright again.

Tony gasped, burying his face into Elias' neck and whispering, "I haven't had enough water today and my body is punishing me for it."

Elias started to shuffle forward holding onto Tony's waist. "Let's take it slower."

"We might have to eliminate them if they get close enough. Make sure a gun is handy as I know you're not carrying it now."

Elias moved through the trees, dodging low hanging tree branches. "I'd rather not have to do that."

"You might not have a choice, especially if we don't get out of here before they enter. One flash of their light and they'll spot us."

***********

Tommy watched on Marksson's display as the field ops searched the area. He had a feeling Tony ditched the car because it would be tracked eventually, but why did he do it in the middle of nowhere? "What's nearby to this forest?"

Marksson zoomed out and searched the area. "Nothing much other than more forest. Unless they plan to walk for several kilometers. The closest house is about three kilometers away and looks to be inhabited by the lights being on."

Sorenson overheard their conversation and radioed to the field ops team. "Have some of your group head to the nearest house three kilometers away. I'm sending you the information. That's probably where they're trying to get to in case your other team doesn't get them."

Tommy's jaw clenched. He didn't really want that to be discovered so fast. He really should have kept his mouth shut and just looked it up himself.

**********

Tony took a deep breath and wiggled out of Elias' arms. "I'm feeling better, let's get out of here."

Elias followed close behind Tony again. "How much longer to get out?"

Tony pulled out his GPS unit, shielding the bright light from it with his hand. "About two and a half kilometers away. The house is on the edge of the southern forest."

Shouts sounded behind them and both dodged behind a tree. Elias looked over at Tony and whispered, "What now?"

Tony opened the bag Elias was carrying and pulled out a rifle. "Now we defend our lives. Don't die on me this fast, Viljanen."

Elias pulled out the second rifle to aim at the men in the forest approaching their position. "Which side do you want me to aim?"

"Go right, and I'll go left. Be sure to aim for their heads. Anything else is not acceptable."

***********

Tommy blinked at the rifle shots sounding in the forest.

Malainen glanced up. "They're shooting? I thought we were taking them alive?"

Tommy thought for a moment. "I don't think it's our team shooting."

Sorenson swore and patched into the field leader. "Return fire, but try to maim them instead of killing. We need them alive."

The gunfire doubled over the radio.

Tommy silently prayed to whoever might be listening to have Tony survive this. He knew Tony was more than capable of defending himself to the death, but he didn't have that same confidence in Elias' abilities.

After a minute, the gunfire ceased.

Tommy looked down at Marksson's display. "What's going on? Can you track our men?"

Marksson patched into their tags and gasped. "I believe they're dead, sir."

The leader turned to stare at Marksson. "All of them?"

Marksson searched through each tag. "It looks like it, sir. At least there's no vitals coming from any of them. Usually if they're injured, the bodies would emit something, but I'm getting nothing on any of them. All ten men are dead."

Sorenson radioed the team on their way to the house. "Go to the southern edge of the forest near that house. They'll be coming out and I want them taken alive."

Silence.

Sorenson frowned. "Report!"

Tommy tapped on Marksson's shoulder. "Where are our men near the house?"

Marksson zoomed out and on the house. He searched the area. "I'm not picking up anyone near the house. Maybe they're still on the way?"

"Search around the back of the house."

Marksson turned the display around to look at the garden. He gaped at the image.

Tommy stared down in horror as all ten men were hanging with ropes around their necks, swinging in the slight night wind. "What the hell?"

The leader moved over to see the display and swore. He turned to Sorenson. "Call in our other field operatives. They're further away but at least we know where Kakko is going. They won't last the night."

**********

Tony looked down at his GPS again and swore. "They figured out where my house is, but by the looks of it my defense system still works after all these years."

Elias looked down at the display and gaped.

Tony smiled. "Can't make it that easy to enter. There's booby traps around the back for anyone trying to get in that way. They wouldn't be stupid enough to approach the front which is why I make sure if I have to send maintenance people out there that they go in the front door."

"Maintenance people?"

Tony put the GPS away. "Yes, to make it look like it has people in it. I pay a guy to clean it every couple of weeks. I've never met him myself but I do watch him clean it on occasion to make sure he isn't trying to steal anything. Not that there's much inside to be honest."

Elias followed Tony again through the trees. "How the hell were you pulling off such a thing for so long?"

"Easy, my computers were locked away from cameras. I can't imagine you didn't run into that when you were watching me."

"Oh yeah, they came up all blurred out. Though the leader unblocked them later."

"By then it was too late. I set this up years ago."

Elias stopped short. "But if they know where the house is, they'll send more to intercept us."

"Yes, that is a problem. If this was the local team, it's going to be several hours until the next one arrives. At least we can get washed up and maybe get some sleep before that happens."

"I don't think we can hold off a whole army with what we have."

"Good thing I have stuff in the house. It's remaining stock from the asshole I took it over from. He had top of the line gear, we just have to find it."

**********

Tommy watched Marksson's display and wondered if there was some way to help Tony dodge the on camera. He knew Tony would be smart enough to see if someone was near this particular house in advance.

Still, they would be able to see Tony as soon as he exited the forest. Tommy had no way of protecting Tony from that, other than killing the whole network and that would get him eliminated in an instant.

He turned to see Henkka standing on the outer edge of the communications area watching it all go down. Tommy caught Henkka's eyes and hoped he could convey some way of distracting them enough to avoid seeing Tony's exit.

Henkka nodded and left the area.

Tommy took a deep breath and waited.

That was all he could do.

**********

Henkka went back to his domain and into the back room. He jumped at the sound of Marko's voice behind him. "Dammit Make, you scared me!"

Marko chuckled. "I was just asking how Tony was."

"He's alive but they've found him too fast. I think Tommy wants me to distract them a little."

Marko let out a long sigh. "Thank fuck. I didn't expect any less from Tony, I hope you can give him some time."

Henkka opened up the laptop and pulled out a disk. "Me too, and I think I can patch into their screens to give them a delayed feed. Basically, they'll see the same image and the timecode will still countdown but nothing will really change."

"Won't they notice when it doesn't become morning?"

"Well yeah, but at least it gives Tony several hours before the other forces show up. If they can't pinpoint their exact location, then Tony can have time to mount an attack."

Marko watched Henkka boot up the laptop. "Do you need me to do anything?"

"Get near the communications area without being seen and wait. I need to know if their monitors flicker as that means the program is working."

Marko shuffled out of the area.

Henkka accessed the program from the disk. The laptop itself was a cheap knockoff he'd salvaged from a mission. They didn't know about it and wouldn't ever as he planned to destroy it after this. He re-read the virus coding to make sure he hadn't fucked up and then pushed send.

*********

Tommy's insides felt like they were knotted up and he didn't know how much longer he'd last wondering if Tony would be successful. He knew it was all part of the plan, but he had a feeling the leader would track Tony to the ends of the Earth in order to find him.

Marksson frowned at his monitor.

Tommy glanced down. "What is it? It looks fine to me."

Sorenson piped up, "All of the monitors flickered and then came back. Are we still getting the feed?"

Tommy went over to another console to check. He saw the virus going through the system immediately but didn't acknowledge it. "Looks like the feed had a hiccup. I'll have it checked out later, but we're still getting a live feed."

Sorenson radioed to the second team. "What's your position now?"

"Due to construction we're going to be delayed another hour."

Sorenson swore. "That's not acceptable."

"There's nothing we can do about it unless you want the local authorities involved with it."

The leader shook his head at Sorenson. "Let them go on their course. We know where Kakko and Viljanen are going. He won't escape before we get there."

Tommy returned to his position and took a deep breath.

Eventually, they would figure out the feed was wrong, but at least he bought Tony a few more hours of time.

***********

Marko returned to Henkka. "It worked."

Henkka took a hammer to the laptop, smashing its case and hard drive.

Marko looked down at it. "That poor laptop."

"It was old and falling apart anyway. Plus it's not one of ours so no one will be able to track it."

Marko looked up at the cameras around Henkka's area. He mumbled at Henkka, "What about the cameras?"

"Those are no threat. They feed bogus stuff to Samson's database. They've done that for a while actually. He hasn't even noticed it."

Marko grinned at Henkka. "Nice one."

"Actually you can thank Tommy for that one. Since he had to replace the cameras with sound ones, he purposely routed mine, the server room, and the hallway to the van to cycle old footage. Unless they had someone purposely standing in that area and radioing to Samson, he'll never fucking know."

"I hope none of the footage is old."

"I doubt it. Tommy's too smart to have people like Jani in it. Though I don't know about Tony."

*********

Elias stopped short when Tony did. "What's wrong?"

"We're at the outer edge of the forest. I'm trying to figure out if the live feed is following us. I assume Henkka or Tommy would have done something to delay it, but I want to be sure."

Elias looked down at Tony's GPS. "You can do all of that on a simple GPS device?"

Tony laughed. "It's not as it appears to be. It only looks like this to avoid suspicion. I can patch into satellites and other monitoring devices around this area. Thankfully it looks like there's nothing watching us for now."

"What about people nearby?"

Tony moved out of the forest. "I looked and there's no one around, but keep on guard just in case."

Elias followed Tony out. It was still dark as it was in the middle of the night. They both inched forward toward the two-story house in the middle of nowhere. Elias kept looking around to see if he spotted any movement.

Tony approached the door, rubbing along the front of it and producing a keypad popping out of the side panel. He typed in the code and the door opened.

"What the hell?"

Tony smiled and pulled Elias inside. "That's my entrance. The key is for the staff."

Elias looked around the empty hallway and stumbled forward into the living room. He frowned at the large couch and little else in the room.

Tony passed him for the upstairs. "It's not like I ever planned to stay here for long. A couch is nice to crash on and still spy on others outside."

With a sigh, he followed Tony upstairs. He glanced at the two bedrooms filled with only beds and some dressers. He went into one of them to open the drawers. The top drawer held men's clothes like underwear and socks. The next had suit shirts and t-shirts. The final one had jeans.

Tony appeared at the doorway. "Feel free to change out of your clothes. The more we blend in with everyone else the better later. It will be nice to wear jeans again. I hate these cargo pants."

Elias moaned, "Man, I miss jeans."

Tony laughed and headed for the other bedroom. "I'm going to shower and then change. There's another shower in the hallway bathroom."

Elias dropped the duffel on a blue bedspread and let out the trapped breath in his chest. 

They weren't out of the woods yet, but at least they could relax for a bit.

**********

After his shower, Elias padded back into his room wearing a fluffy blue towel across his waist. He sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the light brown carpeting.

"Elias, what size jeans do you have over there? I think mine are not the right ones."

Elias got up from the bed and rummaged in the bottom drawers. He pulled out several pairs of jeans and looked at the tags. "Um, I can't tell what these are." He put them up to his waist and legs came to the middle of his calves. "These are too small for me."

"Then bring them this way. I think I have some that will fit you. They're too long in the legs."

Elias scrambled off the floor with the two pairs of jeans in his hands. He walked into Tony's room and stopped short.

Tony glanced up, rolling his eyes at the fact that Elias' eyes aimed at his chest.

Elias studied the various scars across Tony's chest. Some were former bullet wounds and some were knife wounds, while others Elias couldn't quite make out.

"My face is up here, Viljanen."

Elias flushed and shuffled forward to give Tony the jeans. "Sorry, I've never seen you without clothes on."

"As you're not meant to. That's why I make the cameras turn off before I go to bed. The fewer people see these the better."

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, it's a part of you."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "Like those deep lash marks on your back?"

Elias flinched at the mention of them. He hadn't realized Tony had seen them at all.

"Here, these are probably close to your size. If they're too loose grab a belt from the closest."

Elias took them without looking at Tony, shuffling back to his room to sit down on the edge of the bed again.

His mind going back to when he was a kid yet again.

**********

Tony waited until Elias was out of sight to remove his towel. He grimaced as he looked down. Elias was right it was a part of him now. Too bad he hated every glance of it.

He got dressed fast to avoid having to look at it further.

It was a deep scar from his past that will never be fixed at this point, but if it wasn't visible to his critical eyes then it wouldn't remind him of that fateful night.

Tony grabbed a random black t-shirt from the drawer and padded over to Elias' room.

Elias sat on the edge of his bed still holding the two pairs of pants in his arms.

Tony walked in and sat next to him. "Some scars are not so easily forgotten. I'd imagine those on your back were years of abuse and not just one night like mine was."

Elias stared at the ground. "I wasn't only in prison for the bombing. I was a two-time convict."

"I know that. I've read up on your past, even if I had to dig it out of juvenile records by hacking into a Finnish database."

Elias bit his lip. "I hadn't meant to kill him, just to fight back against his onslaught. I could deal with the beatings, I could deal with the belts striking my back for speaking up, and I could deal with being called worthless and never amounting to anything in life."

"And yet, he pushed you enough to kill him."

Elias shut his eyes to stop the tears from forming in his eyes. "In all of the times he'd taken out his frustration on me, it only amounted to hitting me. One night he discovered I was having a friend over to stay the night, because we were going to see a football game the next day. He was furious, accusing me of being gay and that I was having him over to fuck him." He stopped to shake his head. "It was nothing like that. I wasn't even interested in guys, preferring to daydream about some of the girls in my class. It didn't matter what I said, and instead he pulled down my pants intent on raping me for it. I have no idea why he thought that would be a punishment for such an accusation, but I snapped and turned around to wrap my hands around his neck. I guess I did it too hard."

"You could say that. You snapped his neck pretty fast and I can imagine what was going through your head at the time."

Elias opened his eyes and looked over at Tony. "Why do you say that?"

"Because you're not the only who killed their parent. I killed my mother after she found me in bed with my high school boyfriend. There's more to it than that, but I'm not ready to share something like that with you right now. Suffice to say, it wasn't an impulse move on my part, she'd been abusing me since I was a young kid because I looked like my deadbeat father."

Elias shook his head. "We're both fucked up. I guess I shouldn't be surprised about that."

Tony got up from the bed. "Yeah, but there's one thing we have that they don't."

"What's that?"

Tony moved over to the doorway. "We're still alive. If we can keep doing that, then we're better than they ever were."

***********


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Elias are on the run, but their former leader will not let them get away that easily.

Elias dressed and headed downstairs. He found Tony in the kitchen rummaging around in the cupboards and fridge. "There's food here?"

Tony pulled out some vegetables and cheese from the refrigerator. "A few days' worth but sadly we won't be staying that long. The next set of forces will be here in several hours. We might as well eat something now so we'll be ready for them."

"That means more killing."

Tony pulled out a loaf of bread. "That's sadly part of the deal from here on out. I don't enjoy taking out our forces since some of them I've done missions with and even trained at one point. I'm hoping I can figure out a way to distract them enough to lose our trail."

"Jamming their signal?"

Tony shook his wet hair. "I'm already doing that with your tag. Any more under it will alert them to where you are."

"My tag?"

"All recruits have it implanted in them, put on their skin or under it. It really depends on who put it there. I've already removed mine, but you still have a tag. They can't find you because I'm jamming it. Though if they were to break through it, then they'd know exactly where we are."

Elias snorted. "Why doesn't that surprise me? Can I remove it?"

"No idea, because I don't know where yours is. I only found mine by chance then someone hit me with a knife. I patched the wound myself and found the implant in the process. Since you're a newer recruit they might have put it on your body instead of in you."

Elias leaned against the counter. "It's not on me; I've washed my body enough to feel anything weird on my skin."

Tony turned with a raised eyebrow. "You've checked everywhere?"

"I know my body, Tony. I've felt every inch of it and haven't found anything weird."

Tony chuckled and went back to making his sandwich. "If you think it's that obvious, then you're fooling yourself. It's probably the thickness of an eyelash on your skin. You wouldn't even notice it unless you were looking right at it. Once we get out of here and somewhere they can't find, then I'll check you out to see where it is."

Elias' body stiffened.

Tony laughed, even though he didn't see it. "Trust me, Viljanen, you're not the first naked man I've seen and certainly won't be the last if I have anything to say about it."

Elias bit his lip. "Was your boyfriend from high school your last?"

Tony's body tensed. "For the most part. I had one in prison but he died early on so I became the toy that others passed around to rape. Just like in high school."

"You were raped in high school?"

Tony finished making his sandwich and moved to the side. "Go ahead and make one. I'm done."

Elias was going to ask his question again but decided against it. The last thing he needed was to push Tony enough to kill him.

*********

Phelps called out to Tommy to come over to his station. 

Tommy held his breath, assuming Phelps found the virus Henkka planted in the system. How was he going to explain such a thing without having the others overhear was going to be a challenge, especially since he knew what it was and how it got there?

Phelps pointed at his monitor. "There's something strange going on with the database. I mean, no one is hacking into it or anything, but it feels like there's a piece of code going haywire in the background.

Tommy typed a few keys on Phelps' keyboard. "There, it should be fine now."

Phelps glanced up. He was intent on saying something further, that much Tommy gleamed by his questioning look, but didn't once he caught Tommy glaring at him. He swallowed hard. "Right, that did work, sir."

Tommy smiled and patted Phelps' chair. "Good, let me know if anything else comes up."

Phelps went back to staring at his monitor with a frown on his face.

The leader noticed it and inquired from Tommy, "What was that all about?"

"Some random codes trying to become sentient by multiplying. I took care of it for now. It might creep up later, but so far it's an isolated incident."

Sorenson glanced over. "They can do that?"

Tommy laughed. "They can if you give them enough resources. The trick is to keep them in check so they'll do their thing instead of what you don't want them to do."

Sorenson stared at Tommy.

Marksson bit his lip to stop from laughing while Malainen grinned to himself.

***********

Elias blinked his eyes to stay awake.

Tony scoffed on the other side of the couch. "Take a nap. I'll wake you when the fun starts."

Elias folded his arms across his chest to stay upright on the couch. "No, you should sleep. I doubt you've gotten much sleep lately."

"I don't get much sleep period. I haven't for years so it's not like I need it now."

Elias yawned. "That doesn't sound like a good idea to me. That will make you sloppy if you don't get enough sleep."

"Have you ever beaten me? If the answer is no, then I'm getting plenty of sleep. Now go to bed already."

"I don't want to. I know it doesn't sound like much but I have my reasons."

Tony leaned back on the couch. "Nightmares?"

Elias ducked his head.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I have them too. Repeating that night over and over again. That's the reason I don't sleep much. Marko was always on me to sleep more, but he never had dreams like mine."

Elias swallowed hard. "But it does explain you dropping to your knees and crying out. You're having waking dreams now."

Tony's jaw clenched. "You weren't meant to see such things."

"Maybe not, but I saw how they paralyzed you for several minutes. I have to wonder if that will affect you later when we're trying to get away?"

Tony shook his head. "I won't let them. It's only when I'm not concentrating on other things. When you're hunted down like an animal, your senses are always heightened and your guard is always up. It's the same as it was after that night. I ran after it happened and tried to avoid being caught. My rumbling stomach and my failed attempts to shoplift is what got me in the end."

"You were still in high school I assume?"

"Yeah, I was eighteen and in my last year of high school. I thought everything was finally going right for me and it turns out I was very wrong, so much so that my life hasn't been the same since."

Elias stared at his hands. "I was too - in my last year of high school. They gave me a shortened sentence when they found out about my abuse, viewing it as self-defense. I served three years instead of the customary ten to life."

"They tried to shorten mine after they found out I was keeping it from them that I was abused. I just wanted it over with and didn't care if it locked me away forever. I had nothing to look forward to outside anyway. They gave me five years because I tried to flee. I only served two of those years before I was taken out."

"So you were recruited at twenty?"

"Three months shy of twenty-one but close enough. I recruited the rest of them except for Tommy who was already there. They got him at seventeen because he hacked into a government database to get out of doing his upcoming military duty."

Elias laid his head down on the fluffy pillow. "Somehow that doesn't surprise. Tommy seems to be a genius when it comes to computers."

"He is, and I'm pretty sure he's hacked in to deflect their attack to a later time for us, just like he promised he would do."

**********

Tommy kept eying the clock, wondering when they would figure out it should be lighter with sunlight in the feed instead of darkness. He knew they'd figure it out eventually and braced himself for that fact.

Though it did help that they were still trying to get the secondary field team to Tony's location. It had been plagued with problems from the start.

Traffic construction and then having to re-route midway due to even more late night construction. It was all distracting them from the fact that the sun would be starting to rise in an hour. None of his team had noticed it yet and he was silently praying that they would keep doing just that.

The fewer questions about the subterfuge, the better.

Marksson glanced up at Tommy. "Sir, shouldn't they be out yet? I can't imagine they'd be strolling along in the dead of the night through a forest."

Tommy managed to silence the swear word from forming on his lips. "They might have been injured in the shootout. Just because they eliminated ours, doesn't mean they didn't receive injuries as well. It's too bad Tony is jamming us or we'd know for sure, and the other operatives are still too far away to find out. Eventually, they're going to have to come out to get food and shelter."

Sorenson swore. "That means he knows we had people near the house."

"Very likely since this is Tony we're talking about. He plans for all variables and maybe that's why they're still hiding in the woods. Maybe they're waiting for the second strike to happen before leaving?"

"Or maybe you're not even watching a live feed."

All men turned to find Samson standing behind them.

Tommy's jaw clenched. "I know my systems. I would know if someone was putting up bogus footage."

Samson shuffled over to Tommy's position to stand in front of him. "Yeah like my cameras? Some of them have been showing footage from months ago. I don't know when it started or how, but I figured it out by digging a little."

Tommy held his ground. Losing his cool to an asshole like Samson wasn't worth the punishment later. "Well, that's your problem not mine. You're the head of video surveillance. If you can't figure out if it's up to date, then maybe you should have installed the cameras yourself."

Samson inched closer to Tommy. "Or maybe you fucked up and fed them a bogus signal all along? Your team is the one who provided the signals coming in."

Tommy turned around to look at the monitors again. "I don't have time for this bullshit. We have to find Tony and not waste time with your precious cameras."

Samson pointed at Marksson's monitor. "Have you ever wondered why Kakko hasn't exited yet? That's because you're looking at old footage and I can prove it."

The leader turned to look at Samson. "How?"

Samson opened a laptop he was carrying and showed it to the leader. "What do you see?"

"It looks like it's before sunrise. The skies are lightening up. What does this have to do with anything?"

Sorenson looked down at his video feed and pointed. "It's not even remotely the same footage. This has the dark of night."

The leader glared at Tommy. "I expect an explanation for this, Portimo."

Tommy sighed, knowing he was now fucked. Nothing that he could lie about would mean anything to them other than admitting he was helping Tony. He opened his mouth, intent on telling them about it when one of his team members spoke up.

They all turned to the blond kid sitting next to Phelps.

The kid swallowed hard under their gaze. "It's a virus actually. The thing is, it originated from the first field team's feed. That's when Phelps noticed it and Tommy dismissed it as gibberish. That's the normal reaction because it was gibberish at first, but it's been growing and now feeding us bogus footage. If you want, I can remove it and the feed will be up to date."

Tommy frowned at the statement. "Yes, please do. I could have sworn it was just a random bug bouncing off our servers."

"It's not a problem, sir. Plus you're a bit busy with Tony at the moment."

Tommy let out the trapped breath inside and wondered just how Henkka had mirrored the file to one of the field team's feed. He didn't remember teaching Henkka that years ago.

The man spoke up again. "Sir, can you help me over here?"

Tommy shuffled over to stand behind him. "What is it, Brenden?"

Brenden pointed to his monitor. "I just want to verify if I have the right code."

Tommy stared at the type message on the screen that read, "I know you're trying to help Tony escape, but I have a better way to mask the video field. I'm going to have that portion of the forest obscured on the screen so everything around it will lighten up and still be feeding them useless footage."

Brenden glanced up. "Is that ok, sir?"

Tommy patted Brenden on the back. "That looks great and good work putting in extra measures in place so that doesn't happen again."

Brenden smiled and went back to work.

Tommy wished he could take them all when the time came but that wasn't possible. His team was a well-oiled machine with them sticking up for others so they could all succeed.

Though right now he needed to get Tony to safety first.

*********

Tony looked down at his GPS as it scanned all around the house. Nothing had appeared yet and he half wondered if Tommy had been too good at hiding Tony that they forgot to send the second wave.

Whatever the case, he busied himself in order to stop watching Elias sleep beside him.

He couldn't help but to watch him, as he had with his boyfriend in high school. The soft rise and fall of his chest and breathy noises coming from his mouth. 

It took him back to a time when he thought everything was finally going right in his life.

He could deal with his father abandoning them when he was five. He could even deal with the football players raping him because he was the mascot of the team and therefore an easy target. He could deal with not having any friends in high school while being surrounded by a good hundred people.

That one sliver of hope lasted only nine months until it went horribly wrong on that night. The thing that hurt the most, besides what his mother did to him, was that his boyfriend fled in terror instead of fighting for Tony. He left like the coward that he was, ashamed to be with some poor kid on the wrong side of town.

The last time Tony saw him was on the first day of his trial. He'd told Tony that he didn't believe that he killed his mother, that it was some kind of mistake. Tony remembered turning around, looking into his green eyes and saying he was a fool.

Those were the last words Tony ever uttered to him and sometimes he wondered if he was even still alive anymore. Tony surely wasn't thanks to the organization but he doubted his boyfriend even shed a tear for his death.

No one had.

Something beeped and Tony glanced down at the display. Five small dots were on the edge of the forest, probably still searching for them.

Tony took a deep breath and readied himself for battle.

*********

One of the field operatives radioed in, "We're on the southern edge of the forest. I'm sending some men inside to retrieve Kakko and Viljanen. The rest of the men are headed for the house."

Sorenson pressed the switch on the console. "Proceed with caution around the house. It's already killed ten men with what appears to be booby traps."

"Will do. I'll report back in when we've obtained Kakko and Viljanen."

The leader followed the men on the screen heading for the forest. "Somehow I doubt Kakko is in there anymore. Just because we haven't seen him, doesn't mean he isn't inside that house."

Sorenson nodded. "That was my thinking too after that problem was discovered with the monitors. How the hell did he booby trap the house from the forest? That doesn't make any sense."

The leader thought for a moment and then asked Malainen, "Who owns that house?"

Malainen typed something into his keyboard and searched. "Looks like a man named Caleb Katala. He obtained it after someone named Lars Mensch died. It appears he paid cash for it, but there is a record of the house changing hands online."

"Lars Mensch? As in the notorious Nazi terrorist we took down three years ago?"

Malainen looked further into the records. "Yes, one in the same. The house was put up for a private sale to Mr. Katala shortly after Lars Mensch died."

"Does this Caleb Katala have any other properties?"

Malainen shook his head. "No, sir. This is the only one."

"Anything else about Caleb Katala in the system? His date of birth, military or prison records, that sort of thing."

"All I can find is a birth record. He was born in July 1964 in Tampere. Beyond that, nothing comes up other than the house sale."

Sorenson glanced over at the leader. "Do you think the record was faked, that Kakko somehow obtained the house under a false name?"

"That could very well be, but we have no proof of that. Either way, checking out the house will be the top priority if they don't find them in the forest."

**********

Tony and Elias headed upstairs to get some socks and shoes on before the men outside started to break down the doors.

Each went into their respective bedrooms to rummage around in the closets.

Tony called out, "I believe these might fit you. Mine is probably in yours."

Elias looked at the small boots in his closet. "Probably since these are way too small for me. Why not use the same ones we've been using?"

"They could be tagged and I don't want to take that chance."

Elias padded across the way to bring Tony a pair of boots. "Here you go."

Tony motioned at the three pairs of boots on the ground. "One of them is bound to fit. I bought several because I wasn't sure who would be with me during this."

Elias snagged the ones on the end and sat down beside Tony on the bed. He put them on and nodded. "Yep, these fit fine."

"Good, get a coat out of the closet. We're not coming back here."

Elias looked over at Tony. "Do you think they'll send even more forces our way?"

"Definitely. Just because we will probably kill them this round, our former leader will send more at us over time. That's why there's only enough food for a few days. We'll pack up some to take with us when we're done with this round."

"But what about more guns and bullets? We're not going to last that long with what we have."

Tony smiled and opened the other side of the closet. "Is that enough?"

Elias gaped at the boxes of bullets, grenades, and guns.

"Leave it to a Nazi terrorist to load up on the good stuff. I checked the dates and they're all still good for now. We might have to cannibalize the gear used by the guys tracking us, but for now we're set."

A knock sounded downstairs.

Tony glanced over at Elias. "Time for the fun to begin."

**********

Tommy and the others watched a field operative approach the front door. He had to wonder if Tony booby-trapped that as well. The yard was full of random things that already killed one of them from this team. Stepped on a bear trap and fell forward to impale on spikes covered by dead leaves. He had to give it to Tony, he sure kept it interesting to see if he would be outsmarted or not.

The field operative at the door turned the doorknob and it opened with little effort. He nodded at his team to follow him.

Gunshots sounded inside and the first man dropped to the ground dead.

Sorenson rolled his eyes. "This is getting really old. How can you be that stupid to just waltz in and get very far without Kakko noticing?"

The leader radioed to the man behind him. "They're armed so proceed with caution. Remember both are highly trained former operatives."

The man was about to report back when a rifle bullet picked him off. He tumbled to the ground and the other four men dodged behind the couch for cover.

A man near the door took out his radio and whispered to the forest team to come to the house.

Tommy glanced over at the forest feed, which was now giving the correct data thanks to Brenden. He had put it back without anyone noticing and with no indication from Tommy. There was no point in the subterfuge now they knew Tony was inside the house.

Marksson winced as he watched each member of the forest team get picked off as they exited the forest. "So much for his backup."

Sorenson radioed to a field operative outside. "They're shooting from the top floor window. Take them out now before your team gets decimated!"

The operative lined up a shot and readied his finger on the trigger but the window closed before he could get off a shot. He swore and radioed back. "They closed the window, sir. I'll keep an eye on it to make sure they don't try it again."

Marksson shook his head. "That doesn't matter now. The forest team is dead. Only five men went in there and each was picked off before the other operative could get a shot."

Sorenson stared at the monitor in confusion. "I thought we sent twenty men to this position. Where are the others?"

As if on cue, a man radioed in. "We'll be there within the hour. Hopefully the first team is holding down the fort until we arrive."

Sorenson tapped the switch. "Get here faster than that. They're being picked off like flies."

"Understood. We'll try to speed it up without alerting the local forces."

**********

Tony went back inside to stand beside Elias and whispered, "Have they descended yet?"

"No, I think they're hiding behind the couch. Did you pick off the ones in the forest?"

Tony shouldered the rifle. "Yep, someone must have alerted them because I took them out one by one as they exited. And these are supposed to be the more advanced forces."

Elias thought for a moment while putting in another clip of bullets into the rifle. "Pack up the gear while I take care of these idiots. It's too bad we can't get to the kitchen or we could grab some food on the way out."

"Oh we will, we just need to get rid of them first. I'll leave you to it, just holler if you're having trouble."

Elias inched closer to the stairs, aiming for the couch. He fired several rounds and heard at least one man make a choking sound.

Bullets came at Elias' position but he dodged them with little effort. They weren't sure where Elias was so they were aiming blindly.

Elias moved out for another round at the couch, this time going for the end of it. Another choked scream sounded, but this time the one hiding off to the side rose and took aim. Elias saw it and ducked in time, noting they were getting smarter to his attack. He needed to change up his pattern or he'd end up getting himself shot in the process.

Tony appeared in the hallway and shuffled toward him with a full bag of ammunition and grenades. "Have you got them all?"

"Not yet. They've figured out my pattern."

Tony took out his handgun and flicked off the safety. "Then let's give them another one."

Elias fired at the couch again and waited. The man off to the side rose to take a shot at Elias and picked off easily by Tony before he had the chance.

Tony called out to them. "Alright, get the fuck out my house or I will kill each of you off one by one."

No one moved.

Elias shuffled down the steps and motioned for Tony to keep talking.

Tony spoke to the room, "I'm going to give you the count of ten to surrender. You're outmatched and pretty much easy pickings at this point."

Elias crouched after the last step to look through the bullet holes on the couch.

"10. 9. 8. 7...."

Elias spotted the dead man on the right side and a severely wounded man bleeding out with his eyes wide open to the ceiling.

"6. 5. 4...."

Elias inched to the left and looked through another hole to spot two more dead men. With another scoot, he spotted the last man gritting his teeth at Tony's counting. He turned and pointed at where the man was to Tony.

Tony moved down the stairs and kept counting. "3. 2...."

The man got up from his place, intent on taking out Tony when he realized two guns were pointing into his chest. He stared at both of them in surprise.

Tony laughed. "I can't believe you actually fell for that. Even the worst kind of operative knows better than to try to do it on the one count. You should have moved faster to pick off Elias, but you waited like a fool."

The man sneered at Tony. "You won't get out of here alive. This place is surrounded by men."

Tony grinned. "You mean the ones I picked off as they walked out of the forest?"

The man gaped at Tony.

"Or maybe the idiots like yourself trying to come in the front door that got picked off by Elias? Where exactly is this large army you profess?"

The man held his ground. "There's more on the way. I'd imagine they're arriving about now."

Tony laughed. "Thank you for that."

The man didn't get a chance to respond as Tony put a bullet through his head. Instead, he slumped to the ground in a heap.

Tony leaned down to retrieve the radio from the man's jacket and switched it on, "Catch me if you can."

**********

Sorenson swore. "Why don't we have any competent men? These are idiots."

The leader pressed a button on the console. "Get me Marko Paslov. We are in need of his tracker."

Marksson spoke up. "Tony and Elias are leaving the house with what appears to be gear."

Sorenson scoffed. "Yeah, the gear they stole from us!"

"Actually, sir, not all of it is. It appears there was some hidden in this house. They now have detonators and bombs."

Tommy nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything less from a former Nazi. I'd imagine that gear goes back to when the house belonged to Lars Mensch. They probably sold the house as is instead of searching it for stuff."

The leader shook his head. "We didn't even know about this house or we would have cleaned it out of gear. I don't know how Tony figured it out in the first place. It wasn't in any of the mission files."

A voice sounded from the comm, "This is Marko Paslov."

The leader leaned forward to speak, "We need your expert tracker. It seems our forces aren't good enough to reclaim two rogue operatives."

"Which two operatives?"

The leader hesitated and then said, "Tony Kakko and Elias Viljanen."

"You're going to need a lot more than my tracker. Kakko is one of the best, if not the best operative you've ever had. Any ideas why he went rogue?"

The leader's jaw clenched. "It's been a rumor that he's wanted out and now he has that chance. I want him returned to us as soon as possible."

"Very well, I'll notify Myrkkynen to gather his crew. Do you have a lock on him at the moment?"

The leader looked over at Tommy. "Are you still tracking him?"

Tommy pointed at the monitor. "They're headed to the east from the house."

"I'll forward you the data we have. Currently, he's heading east and I'd imagine trying to avoid our second unit which is twenty minutes away."

"You don't have confidence in your own men?"

The leader looked at the display. "Not at the moment."

**********

Tony and Elias made their way from the house, going through another forest and fields.

Elias looked around. "We don't have much cover out here. All they have to do is get a helicopter and capture us."

Tony dug into his pocket. "I can fix that."

Elias watched Tony press a button on the GPS unit. "How?"

"It's jamming your signal now."

Elias gave Tony a pained look. "They can still find us via cameras."

Tony put his device away. "Actually they can't right now. I mean, yes they were able to a few seconds ago, but not anymore. That's why we're going to take a detour down south to throw them off."

"And then what?"

"Then we find a place to rest once we're far enough away. It really depends on the field operatives that they're sending our way. As you heard the guy in the house, the next group is twenty minutes away which means they're on our trail."

Elias pointed to a thick forest. "How about going through there? It will shield us from helicopters."

Tony pulled out his GPS and looked at it. "That would work. It's got defined trails so we don't end up landing in some ravine with the wrong step."

**********

Sorenson stared at the monitor. "Where the hell did they go?"

Tommy sighed. "Tony has turned on his jammer again. I assume they're still going southward as I doubt they can magically transport to somewhere else."

Sorenson patched into the field commander's radio. "We've lost a lock on them. They were processing southward from the house."

"Got it. I assume you'll want to launch the helicopters as well."

Sorenson turned to the leader.

The leader spoke up, "How long until they're in the air?"

"I'd imagine they can be launched immediately. It's daybreak now and there's no foul weather to deal with."

The leader patched into the helicopter radio. "I need two helicopters canvasing the area south of the coordinates I'm providing. We have two rogue operatives that need to be captured and brought back alive."

There was silence and then a man spoke up, "Understood, we'll be leaving with the next ten minutes. Let us know if the direction changes before then."

The leader turned back to Sorenson and said, "They may be jamming our signal but they can't escape being seen from the air."

**********

Tony stopped to lean against a tree to get air back into his lungs.

"You're exhausted."

"No, it's the humidity playing with my asthma. I can usually push past it but it's pretty thick in this forest so I guess we're going to be limited to a fast walk until we get out of it."

Elias watched Tony push off from the tree to resume his walking. "You're going to need to rest eventually, Tony. I know they're tracking us now, but once we get to a safe place then I'm ordering you to sleep."

Tony turned with a raised eyebrow. "You're ordering me? I thought I was your boss."

"Technically the leader is my boss. I don't want to have to defend us both alone while you're incapacitated."

Tony moved through the path. "Fair enough, but it's going to be several kilometers to the next safe place, assuming it still exists."

"It's not another house?"

Tony shook his head. "No, it's an abandoned gas station. It was there a year ago, but they might have demolished it by now. I can't see this far ahead with my GPS as it's being used to mask your tag. If I push it too hard, they're going to find us again."

***********

Tommy watched the field operatives move across the southern fields in search of Tony and Elias. So far they hadn't found them yet and with forests on all sides, it's likely they dashed into one of those. 

Tony definitely would take the opportunity to not be in the middle of fields due to helicopters and Tommy assumed that the field team would lose them pretty quick. If there was one thing Tony was smart in, it was outsmarting people who thought too linearly. He was always several steps ahead of most people and tried to anticipate any variables, much to their leader's dismay.

His missions were usually fairly elaborate and extensive. While others just put the basic mission plans, Tony went the extra mile and outlined every step of the way so the operatives would know where they were supposed to be.

Tommy used to argue with Tony over the lengths he went about making the missions and carrying them out. Tony assumed the operatives were competent and would react to whatever was thrown at them.

Too bad for him, a good chunk of them weren't and ended up being killed on the missions. It's the reason why they started sending Pasi out with them in order to clean up any messes later.

Tommy frowned, wondering why the leader hadn't called in Pasi to take both of them out. He could have easily done so without all of this hunting around by the field operatives.

The leader saw the frown. "What is it?"

"I was just wondering why you haven't used Pasi for any of this? I mean, yes he's not needed for tracking people down but he could have easily beaten them in the first forest."

"I believe you know the answer to that. He trusts Tony and therefore easily corrupted into joining Tony's side. The last thing I need is for them to have a sharpshooter as well. Tony is bad enough since he taught Kauppinen how to do it."

Tommy's eyebrow rose. "How do you figure that? I mean, yes he was trained by Tony, but I've never seen them hanging out like Marko does."

"I don't want to take the chance. I'd rather use others who haven't been working with Tony over the years. If I have to I'll use Kauppinen, but he's a last resort."

***********


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Racing through abandon buildings, escaping the army tasked with taking them out. Will they make it out alive?

Tony and Elias managed to get out of the forest in time to see the other field operatives heading into it from the other side. They looked to the skies, thinking that maybe the helicopters were overhead but it was quiet.

Elias motioned to a one-story building in the distance. "What is that?"

Tony checked his GPS. "Looks to be abandoned. My maps are coming up with nothing for identifying it. It's not a surprise since we're close to Russia and most of the land out here isn't inhabited much. Hence why they set up our headquarters out here. Even if a recruit escaped he'd have nothing to survive on."

"Well, except us that is."

"Indeed, let's check that building out. We might be able to use it as a shelter until the secondary forces come for us. If not, we continue on to the gas station as planned."

A helicopter roared overhead and they made the dash for the building in the distance.

***********

The helicopter operator radioed in. "We have a lock on their position. They're heading for a building in the distance. I don't recognize it so I don't know what might be inside."

Tommy tapped Marksson's chair. "Info?"

"I'm looking now, but I think it's been abandoned. Nothing is coming up. It used to be some kind of forestry service station judging by the old posters on the inside. The rest is empty floor space and some shelves built into the walls."

"So in other words, not much in the way of hiding space."

Sorenson radioed to the field operatives in the forest, "They've been sighted south of the forest and heading for an abandoned building."

As soon as Tony and Elias got into the building, gunfire sounded immediately.

Tommy looked over at their leader. "Who gave the order to shoot them?"

Sorenson patched into the helicopter. "What the hell are you doing? We're not trying to kill them!"

"Just trying to get their attention. None of the bullets were hitting the building itself, just around it."

Sorenson rolled his eyes. "Yeah well, I'm leading this mission and nothing happens without my okay. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. Awaiting further orders."

Sorenson turned to their leader. "What now? The field operatives are on their way over but they have to get back to their vans in order to cut down time from crossing the whole forest."

The leader looked down at the monitor. "We hold tight for now. They can't go anywhere else at the moment."

***********

Tony swore when he got inside. "There's nothing in here for cover and those asshole helicopters are shooting around the building. We should have just bypassed it and gone into another forest. Now we're trapped."

Elias looked around the abandoned office for anything. He went over to the shelves but only found old pamphlets for the forest trails.

Tony leaned against a wall, wheezing for a breath. He closed his eyes to try to calm the unrest brewing inside.

Elias moved around the area for anything to help them keep hidden when the field operatives arrived. He stepped across a portion of the floor and frowned at the creak it emitted.

Tony ducked down to look outside. He spotted several vans surrounding the building and field operatives with guns coming out. "And now we're truly fucked. Here comes a ton of field ops. I guess we'll have to get ready for a battle."

Elias walked over the portion of the floor again, noting it kept creaking. "Tony."

Tony dug into the duffel bag and pulled out a rifle and clips of bullets. "Come on, Elias, get ready."

Elias leaned down to touch over the floor with his fingers. He brushed a piece of wood more indented than the rest. His fingers reached underneath it and pulled back a cover into something down below. "Tony, you need to see this."

"Not now, Elias!"

Elias moved and pulled Tony away from his spot. "Look!"

Tony stared at the square opening in the floor. "What the hell is that?"

"No idea, but it looks like some kind of underground to this building."

Tony thought for a moment and then pulled out a pack of matches. He lit one and tossed it down the hole. The match traveled several meters down before landing on the ground.

Elias touched Tony's arm. "I have an idea. What if we hid underneath there and when they come into here, we could shoot them from below? They'd never expect it."

Tony shoved Elias toward the hole. "Get down there and take my flashlight, I have a better idea if it's a passage."

Elias got inside the opening and dropped down. He flashed the light away from him and gasped. "It's neverending down here. Where the hell does it go?"

Tony was about to answer when shots were fired outside the door. He crawled back to their duffels and threw them down to Elias after taking something out of one of them.

"What's happening up there? Is it the field ops?"

Tony glanced out the window while he tied something together with his fingers. "Yes, and they'll be here in about a minute, but I have a present for them."

**********

Tommy's jaw clenched, wondering how Tony would get out of this situation. It looked to be his last stand at this point and Tommy wondered if all of their best-laid plans were going to crumble in an instant.

Then the screen flashed and a bomb exploded, knocking back the men surrounding the building.

The helicopter radioed in to scream about the use of bombs and why hadn't they been told that Tony was in possession of them.

Tommy stood there, gaping at the destroyed building that was now in full on flames.

The leader shook his head. "I didn't want it to come to this, Tony. If you'd have only just stayed in line none of this would have happened."

Sorenson swore and radioed to the helicopter to see if there were any survivors on the ground.

All Tommy could do was stare and not comprehend what had happened. Nothing made sense at all.

Tony had made his decision and it was a disastrous one for their future survival.

*********

They raced through the darkness away from the explosion, the heat of it warming up the area over them.

Elias swore and ran faster. "Dammit Tony, why did you do that?"

"You know why I did it. I wanted them off our asses once and for all. Now it's just a matter of getting that tracking device out of you so we can complete our mission over the border."

Elias dodged the hot wood above their heads and headed into the cooler dirt areas in front. "Any idea how far this goes?"

"Not a clue. I can't use my GPS down here and they can't track us either."

Elias sighed, echoing in the darkness and kept moving away from the heat. "You do know we could be trapped down here forever."

"Not likely as why would they build an underground passage to nowhere. I'm actually hoping it will take us all the way to Russia without having to cross somewhere else."

Elias shook his head, the ponytailed hair swishing against his back. "That's all well and good but we can't last days down here."

"Well, we have food and water to at least a few days if we ration it. Somehow I doubt it's going to take that long."

Elias slowed down his pace once he could feel the heat start to dissipate above him.

Tony bumped into him from behind. "Why did you slow down?"

"Your breath is getting harsh again and what's the hurry? It's not like they'll figure out we're down here until the building stops being on fire."

Tony took a deep breath and changed his pace. "Flash the flashlight forward to see if there's anything in front of us."

Elias switched on the flashlight, blinding them both at first and shined it in front. "A whole lot of nothing. Just pure darkness and dirt. What the hell would be the point of something like this?"

"A world war is probably the reason. Some kind of elaborate bomb shelter or hiding hole from the air raids. The fact that they dug out this much makes me think they were working on it for years."

Elias turned off the flashlight to conserve the batteries. He shuffled forward with a frown on his face, not that anyone would be able to see it at this point. He couldn't see anything at all in the absolute darkness around them.

A snort rang out from Tony. "Keep it together, Viljanen. We'll get out of here eventually. Since they think we're dead, we can camp out here if need be to get some sleep. At least we won't have to worry about captured while we do that. The slightest bit of noise in here gets echoed a long distance judging by how much my voice is bouncing off the walls."

"What the hell are we going to do once we're out?"

"I already told you that, cross the Russian border if we haven't already."

"I mean after that."

Tony shrugged, the sound of his coat brushing against his beard. "That's up to you. My plan is to head for a safe house that we picked out way in advance. Another of my stolen gains so to speak."

"Do I come with you to that place?"

Tony took a deep breath. "You can if you want, but I doubt you want to be with me longer than you have to. The area I picked out is sparsely populated but I'm sure you could find somewhere to stay."

"I have no money, Tony. In fact, I have fuck all at the moment. No place to sleep, no money for food, and nowhere to go."

Tony stopped walking when he ran into Elias again. He reached out to touch Elias' shoulder. "Look, I can help you with that once we cross the border. If you want to stay with me that's fine. The house is big enough for ten people and it won't be filled unless the others decided to bring someone else."

"I don't know what I want to do. I've never had a choice in that regard, always having someone tell me what I can and cannot do for all of my life."

Tony smiled, even if Elias couldn't see it. "Well, now's your chance to do that. It's scary at first but I know you'll be fine. You've been through a lot in your life and it's time to actually enjoy it without worrying about placating others."

"I guess you're right. It's just so much to take in right now."

Tony grabbed the duffel again to sling over his shoulder. "Come on, let's keep moving. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can continue on with the mission."

**********

Henkka went over to observe Marko's class with the recruits. He wasn't needed here but it was the only place he wanted to be at the moment.

The fact that Tony was now dead put a huge damper on their plans. They had to regroup and figure something else out, but the fact that their leader was keeping an eye on anyone who interacted with Tony it was going to be difficult.

Marko glanced up and frowned at Henkka.

Henkka replied with a frown of his own.

Marko looked up at the clock and clapped his hands. "Alright, that's it for today's session. Keep practicing with other recruits if you can and head to the workout area sometime today for strength training."

The recruits shuffled away toward their respective rooms.

Marko moved over to Henkka. "Before you say anything, I refuse to believe Tony is foolish enough to blow himself up just because they were closing in on him. He would have fought to the death for his freedom with his very last breath. Something else happened, whether it was Elias being a fucking idiot or they somehow escaped. I refuse to believe Tony is dead until they drop his charred corpse in front of me."

Henkka blinked at Marko's statement.

"Tony is way smarter than that idiot Sorenson realizes. He's always a step ahead of everyone and I believe that's the case here. How the fuck he actually got out, I have no clue, but I believe he did. It's one more thing to throw them off the trail when they think he's dead."

"You're right, Tony wouldn't fuck up this colossally without a reason."

Marko looked away. "We just need to bide our time until the signal. It might be within days or a month. Or never if he really is dead but I can't imagine they won't comb through the wreckage to find clues."

"They are, actually. Tommy's been watching them put out the fires for the past twenty minutes so they can find bodies."

"Then there's nothing more to do other than to wait. If Tony did escape, I hope he was smart enough to cover his tracks."

*********

Elias and Tony walked in silence, the only noise around them were their boots trudging through the light dusting of dirt on the ground.

Tony spoke up, "You have to wonder how the hell they did something like this? I mean, you have to pull the dirt and rocks out with each meter cut through. If there are only two entrances, the forestry place we destroyed and the end, then that's a lot of backtracking to get the dirt out."

"Probably had an army of men doing it. In fact, I wouldn't put it past our government to use military personnel to do it during the conscription. Hell, maybe even prison inmates did it as hard labor."

Tony ran his fingers over the wall to the right of him. "Yet, it feels like it was machined out. If they did during either world war or before it, I can't imagine what they used. The walls are way too smooth for pickaxes and shovels."

"Does it matter?"

"No, it's odd that's all."

Elias trudged forward, his stomach growling in protest but he ignored it. He hadn't thought about how that would echo back to Tony.

"Hungry?"

Elias shook his head, his long hair swishing along his back. "No, we need to get out of here first."

"If we ever get out of here."

*********

Tony stumbled behind Elias, his legs feeling like they were made of lead. "I need to rest for a little bit."

Elias dropped the duffel and shuffled around to sit on the ground. He pulled out the flashlight, blinding himself in the process and looked down at his watch. "No wonder you're tired, we've been walking for two hours."

Tony dug into his duffel. "Do you have the water? I think I only have the ammunition and guns."

Elias opened his duffel and pulled out a bottle of water. "Here's one of them."

Tony drank and moaned as his dry throat lessened. "I'm sorry we even went this way. Who knows how long it goes."

"At least we're mostly safe. I mean, it's not like they can find us down here anyway. Maybe you can finally get some sleep for a few hours."

Tony stowed the water in his duffel. "No, we need to keep moving."

"I'd rather you slept. I can guard you if need be, but I doubt we're going to have problems in here."

Tony sighed, echoing down the tunnel. "Fine, I'll try but be sure to wake me when I start to spasm. It means I'm having a nightmare about that night."

Elias' stomach grumbled again.

Tony chuckled. "You might as well eat something. We have sandwiches in there and some cheese."

Elias dug into his duffel for the bags of food. He pulled out a chunk of cheese and started munching on it. "I really hope wherever we end up has food because this won't last us much longer than a few days."

"I'm hoping it leads to another forestry place that we can camp out in and then forage for food later."

***********

Tommy looked down at Marksson's monitor. "Find any bodies yet?"

"No, sir. I'm not finding much from the satellite images. Just a burning shell of a building. Do you think they were incinerated in the blast?"

Tommy shook his blond hair. "No, the fire isn't hot enough for that. He'd have to detonate a nuclear bomb for that to happen and obviously he didn't or people would be getting sick immediately."

"Then did they escape? I'm just not finding anything that would indicate they were in the blast. No charred remains, no guns or ammunition pieces, or even burning clothes. There's just nothing other than some charred paper and shelving. The only reason it went up so fast was that it was rotting away inside."

"I honestly don't know what to think. We'll have to wait until they can cool it down to enter so they can explore the inside in more detail. Our view is from the top and maybe there was a back door or something that they found by accident."

The leader appeared to Tommy's left. "You should get some rest. In fact, all three of you should. I know you have a night shift to take over."

Tommy turned to look at their leader. "You really think I can sleep after something like that? I have to know what happened and if we need to track Tony any further."

The leader's eyebrow rose. "You don't believe he's dead?"

Marksson piped up. "There are no bodies that I can see via the satellites. Granted there might be somewhere else they were hiding, but we won't know for sure until they can get inside to inspect the building."

"And that could be hours from now. Get some rest in the meantime. We'll call you if we need you."

Marksson glanced up at Tommy.

Tommy waved his hand at Marksson. "Go, and tell Peltnon that he'll be starting."

Marksson got up from his chair and headed off to the crew quarters with Malainen in tow.

The leader looked over at Tommy. "I mean you too, Portimo."

"Fine, I'll try but I can't promise much."

**********

Tommy didn't go back to his room, instead going for the server room to tap into the satellites pointed at the cleanup. He zoomed in on the building and frowned. Marksson had been right, there was nothing inside this building.

He typed something out to pull up any cameras nearby in order to zoom in on them. There wasn't much other than on the highway to the west of the forests.

None of them were good enough to reach that far.

Tommy sat back in the chair and frowned at the screen. Where did Tony go?

He'd already had Marksson flip the model to see if there was a backdoor to the building. There wasn't any, the walls all looking uniformly identical.

Tommy inverted the camera feed to show the building as black and the rest as white. He fiddled with the contrast to get something underneath to appear.

He gaped at the underground passage running below the building. With a flick of the mouse, he followed the passage out of the area for a while until that particular satellite lost the signal. By that point, he'd followed it for at least 10 kilometers and it appeared to go even longer than that.

Could it be going underneath the Russian border?

Tommy took a deep breath to calm his body from freaking out. Maybe Tony had survived, after all, hiding in that passage when the bomb exploded and then proceeding eastward through it.

If that was the case, then they might just come out on the Russian side and thereby cancel any way to capture them back. Going across the Russian border, even with their leader's high rank would be disastrous. The Russian government would never agree to something like that and would instead hunt Tony and Elias down to kill them.

Tommy bit his lip. Who could he tell this information without having their leader find out later? Or should he not tell anyone at this point until it's absolutely necessary?

In all likelihood, none of his team would be smart enough to invert the feed to discover the passageway. Even if they could, they'd never be able to follow it fully because of how the satellites cut off at 10 kilometers.

Tommy logged out of the console and got up from the chair.

The best course of action was to do nothing unless they figured it out.

He just hoped Tony would be at the end of it by then.

**********

Tony woke up with a start, unsure where he was because he couldn't see anything around him. It took him a few seconds to realize he was still in the tunnel. He was about to chastise Elias for not walking him from the nightmare he'd been having, but he then realized that he could hear Elias snoring next to him.

He fumbled for his duffel to pull out the water bottle from before. With a sigh, he finished off the bottle. He knew they had to ration them but the thirst was giving him a massive headache in the process.

He scooted over to Elias to rummage inside his duffel for food. It was enough for a movement to jerk Elias upright.

"Where the...where am I?"

Tony chuckled. "I had the same thought waking up. At least you got some sleep too."

Elias breathed deep and winced. "A little too much sleep. I slept too hard on my back."

"Well, we can continue to rest here. I haven't heard anyone other than us anyway."

Elias pulled out the flashlight to shine on his watch. "Ug, we slept for six hours."

Tony grabbed a sandwich out of the bag. "We needed it. I'd imagine since we haven't had much sleep since the night before your mission to kill me."

"I didn't sleep at all that night. Too busy wondering if I should go through with it or not."

Tony munched on his sandwich. "Well, you wouldn't be here if you hadn't. The leader probably would have eliminated both of us for insubordination."

Elias drank some water and leaned back against the wall. "Is this any better than that?"

"Yes, as we're still alive. I intend to stay that way until we get out of here. There's no point in freaking out unless there's a reason for it. You and I will reach our goal, Elias. No one ever said it was going to be easy."

*********

After relieving themselves against one of the walls, Tony and Elias pushed on through the darkened hallway.

Elias' nose crinkled. "Hmm, maybe we should have done it further way. I can still smell it."

Tony laughed. "Well that's piss for you, always stinking stuff up."

Elias moved forward to stop short. "Wait, what's that?"

Tony squinted to look beyond Elias. "What?"

"There's light up ahead. Well, a sliver of it at least."

Tony blinked at the darkness. "Are you sure about that? I don't see anything ahead."

Elias pointed at it and then felt foolish since Tony couldn't see his hand. "It's off to the right side."

Tony looked down the hallway again and shook his head. "I don't see anything."

"Come on, let's get closer and then you'll see it."

Tony shrugged. "We have to go that way anyway."

**********

As they trudged closer, a faint light in the distance got brighter.

Tony blinked at it. "How the hell did you see that from way back there?"

Elias shrugged. "I've always had good vision. I wonder if it's the end."

"No idea, maybe. Or maybe it links to multiple locations?"

Elias hurried his stride. "We might as well get this over with."

Tony sped up to keep Elias near, his tired legs protesting the sudden speed.

No matter how fast they moved, the light didn't seem to get any closer.

Elias called out, "Why is it not getting brighter as we get closer? Isn't that how light is supposed to work in darkness?'

Tony gasped for a breath. "Stop asking me questions when I'm trying to breathe!"

Elias flushed and was thankful Tony couldn't see it.

*********

After what seemed like thirty minutes, the light started to get brighter as they got closer.

When a gunshot sounded, both of them dived to the ground thinking it was coming from the tunnel itself.

Elias switched on his flashlight and shining it down the tunnel behind them. "Where the hell did that come from?"

Tony looked above and whispered, "I don't think it was in the tunnel, but above it."

Elias got up off the ground and inched closer to the light. Tony followed behind him with a gun in his hand in case someone decided to jump down into the tunnel.

Another few minutes passed until they were next to the light.

Muffled voices sounded through the slight crack in the floor, followed by a glass door slamming shut in the distance.

Tony pointed the gun at the light and whispered, "I think they might be gone."

A car roaring its engine was faint in the distance and then tires peeled off into what Tony assumed was a road.

Elias let out a trapped breath. "What should we do?"

"Get me up there, so I can see where the hell we are. Remember, you're still tagged at this point and I don't want them figuring out we're still alive."

"I don't like that idea. What if there's more above?"

Tony put the gun in front of Elias' face. "I'm armed, I'll be fine."

Elias gave in, picking Tony up enough for him to push the cover up a little.

Tony swore and backed away a little. "Well, now we know where the gunshot went. There's a dead man facing me."

"Anything else?"

Tony moved up to push the cover on the ground beside him. "It looks like a convenience store."

Elias lifted Tony up more so he could climb over the top. He frowned as Tony went out of view. "Where are you going?"

"Just looking around and I was right - it's a small convenience store."

Elias dug into Tony's bag to get his GPS. "Here, maybe you can see where we are."

Tony laid down on the ground, reaching out for the device. He switched it on and waited for it to find him.

"Got anything yet?"

"You're too impatient, Viljanen. It's been off the whole time to conserve the charge so it has to run its cycles first. Not to mention I need to set the jammer again on your signal."

Elias went to the ground and heaved the duffel bags up through the opening. "Watch out!"

Tony sidestepped them and then gaped at the results. "Well, we're not in Russia but we're really damn close, like less than 50 kilometers at this point."

"How should I get out of here? I can't reach the top."

Tony looked around the area. "There's got to be some kind of rope or lift to get you out. I can't imagine they'd build this without it. By the way, shine your flashlight to see if we're at the end of the tunnel or not."

Elias took the flashlight out of his pocket and flooded the area to his side. "It looks like the end. There's a solid stone wall like ten feet away from me."

Tony rummaged around the store and headed into the back area behind the counter. He arched an eyebrow at the twin bed with porn magazines scattered all over the floor. "I guess I should have expected more from a guy wearing a fancy suit than this."

"I can't hear you, Tony! What did you say?"

Tony chuckled and looked inside the tiny closet to pull out a rope ladder with a square metal bracket attached to it. He shuffled back out into the area with the opening. "Found a rope ladder, get out of the way so I don't hit you with it."

Elias moved to the side and waited for a thick rope to pop down. He muttered, "It's been a long time since I had to climb a rope for gym class."

Tony laughed from above. "You didn't get far enough into your training to do covert listening where we repelled down the sides of office buildings to listen in."

Elias grunted and pulled himself over the edge. "I'm not a big fan of heights anyway. I would have failed that training." He stopped to look down at the dead man. "Bullet to the head. Is he the shopkeeper?"

Tony kneeled down to go through the man's pockets. "No idea, but he's got nothing on him. If he is, he's dressed awfully fancy for a guy who jerks off to skin magazines."

"Do I want to know?"

Tony moved away from Elias to examine the convenience store. "Probably not, but we'll have to use that bed if we're staying here for longer than today."

Elias made a face and went for the refrigerated section. "Looks like the power has been cut. None of these are lighting up."

"What's the date on them?"

Elias pulled out a juice and looked at it. "It expired two months ago. At least the water is still good."

Tony went over to the counter and turned the key on the cash register. It opened with a loud bell.

Elias turned. "What are you doing?"

"It's full of cash. Judging by the large denominations, it's not money from any convenience store I know. There's got to be at least ten thousand euros in here."

Elias shuffled over to the counter to peer down. "Whoa."

Tony grabbed some out and started putting them into his pockets.

"Wait, that's theft."

Tony pointed to the dead man. "Somehow I don't think he cares. Here, take some for yourself in case we have to split up. Then you're not stuck without any money to buy food."

Elias hesitated and then took the money.

Tony moved away from the counter and motioned to the back room. "See for yourself how a lonely shopkeeper lives."

Elias looked down at the magazines on the floor containing all manners of women's tits. "You weren't kidding. Maybe the closet has some clean sheets."

"I doubt it. Somehow I don't think the sheets have been changed in years."

Elias pulled out a leather bag from the closet. He flicked the clasp and gaped at the contents. "Tony, you might want to see this."

Tony came back inside the room to look down at Elias. "Holy shit, we might have found what this tunnel is really used for."

There in the bag were thousands of uncut diamonds.

Elias closed up the bag. "We can't take these. They'd know in an instant that we got them illegally."

"Yeah, sadly there's not much of a market for uncut diamonds where we're heading. It's a small village with maybe 1000 people in it."

Elias picked up the bag and shuffled over to the opening. "We might as well make them work for them."

Tony laughed as Elias dumped all of the diamonds into the passage. He nodded over at the dead body. "We might as well put him down there too. He's going to stink up this place in no time."

They grabbed one end of the man's body and hurled it into the passage as well. Tony grabbed the wooden cover and placed it over the opening. He dusted off his hands. "Alright onto the next item on the agenda."

Elias' eyebrow rose.

Tony pointed to Elias' middle. "Time to remove that tag. Then we don't have to waste valuable power on it anymore."

Elias swallowed hard and hoped Tony knew what he was doing.

**********

Tommy headed into the communications area to begin his next shift. He stopped short when he spotted Sorenson arguing with Marksson about satellite images. "What the hell is going on here?"

Marksson turned to face Tommy. "He's questioning my abilities at reading satellite data."

Tommy snorted at Sorenson when he got close enough. "Marksson has been doing this for two years before you even got here. I doubt you have more experience than he does."

Sorenson sneered. "Maybe not but that's not what I was able to pull up on another computer."

Tommy's eyebrow rose. "And who gave you the access for computer use? I certainly didn't."

"I gave him access to a computer."

Tommy's jaw clenched as he turned around to face their leader. "Which computer did he use?"

Sorenson grinned at Tommy. "Tony's old one. It has other satellite stuff that this one doesn't."

"How is that possible? Ours is state of the art."

"Yeah well, it isn't for this. I was able to find an underground passageway out of that forestry building. I have a feeling Tony and Elias went through it after setting the bombs."

"And yet we can't find such things."

Sorenson's face turned bright red. "Because you're purposely hiding Tony from view!"

Tommy folded his arms across his chest. "Is that so? Where's the proof of that allegation? In fact, I've been asleep for the past several hours and I didn't even tell the next crew anything of the mission. How exactly am I keeping things from you while doing that?"

Sorenson tried to shove Marksson out of the way but he didn't move. "Get out of my way!"

Marksson glared at him. "This is my station. If you want me to find something, then say it and I'll do my best. Only the surveillance team is authorized to be at these terminals. They're coded with our DNA for that purpose."

The leader said behind them, "Just tell Marksson how you did it."

Sorenson pointed at the screen. "That icon has the ability to invert the display."

Marksson looked up at Tommy.

"Follow his orders."

Marksson inverted the display to make the burned out building black and the rest white. "Now what?"

"Then adjust the contrast brighter until the passageway appears."

Marksson shrugged and did it. "I'm not seeing anything and it's almost all the way saturated."

"Keep going."

Marksson turned it all the way up and a tunnel appeared underneath the building. He stared at it in confusion.

Tommy tried his best to look surprised at the revelation he'd figured out hours before this. Instead, he said to Marksson, "Extend the satellite images to see where it ends."

Marksson moved the images around and frowned at the lack of distance on display. "I can't seem to do that. I'm only getting 10 kilometers of passageway and it looks like it goes further than that."

Sorenson nodded. "Yes, that was my problem too, but if you go to the next satellite and do the same things it will go on further. I was able to trace it for 25 kilometers."

"Did you find the end of it?"

Sorenson turned to their leader. "Not quite, but if I had to guess it terminates at a gas station another 50 kilometers down the way. It's 50 kilometers away from the Russian border."

The leader's face twisted in anger. "Now we know where they're heading to. That was Tony's plan all along - to get across the Russian border and thereby be untouchable to us."

"Why does crossing the border to Russia stop us?"

Tommy laughed at Sorenson. "Well, it doesn't if we want to start a war with Russia."

The leader nodded. "Indeed and we need to stop Tony from getting there. I believe it's time to deploy Myrkkynen and his crew. Unlike the previous teams, he will track Tony via the information we feed him. He'll be able to scout ahead to find the end of the passageway."

*********

Elias winced as Tony dug into his right side above his hip bone.

Tony chuckled, shoving a bottle of vodka Elias' way. "For the pain. They don't sell anesthesia in a convenience store."

Elias took a swig from the bottle. "Ug, cheap Russian vodka."

Tony moved a little to the left with the knife and then said, "Ah, there it is. The only reason I found out about mine is a knife hit me there on a mission. I managed to repair myself later while taking the tracker out as well."

With a sigh, Elias looked away to not let the visual of his guts on display make his sick. It wasn't the first time he'd been injured but it was the first someone other than a doctor was doing it.

Tony used a pair of cauterized tweezers to pull the tracker out and showed it to Elias. "And there it is."

Elias stared at the chip no thicker than a cent piece. "What are you going to do with it?"

Tony got up and smashed it on the ground with his shoe. "The only thing that needs to be done, destroy it of course. Now I don't have to waste my GPS on masking you anymore."

"Are you going to patch me up?"

Tony kneeled down to grab a needle and thread. "Indeed I am. I wouldn't be much of a travel partner if I didn't. Just try to avoid pulling at it with your clothes. I'm going to put a bandage over the top, but it might come loose."

"We might as well grab some extras for the road."

Tony finished off the stitches and put some ointment over the top of it before taping a bandage to cover the wound. "There. Try to move around a little to see if anything feels weird."

Elias reached for the shelving to pull himself up and shuffled around the room. "It's kind of tight but nothing weird so far."

Tony cleaned up the area. "It's a good thing this place has a bathroom and sink. Much easier to wash stuff."

Elias snagged a bag of chips off the rack and looked at the date. It was a week overdue. He shrugged and opened it to eat some.

Tony came back and chuckled. "Are those still good?"

"A week out, close enough. I don't really care as it's been years since I've had chips."

Tony went for the candy aisle. "Yes, they do stock Fazer." He picked a bar up and turned it over. "This one is still good assuming I haven't lost track of which day this is."

Elias laughed between chip bites. "I guess I'm not surprised you have a sweet tooth."

"I've always had one but to be honest I haven't had any since before that night. No chocolate in prison and none in the last place. If there had, maybe I would have stayed longer. A little happiness goes a long way."

Elias finished off his small bag of chips. "So how long are we staying here? It's got food and water."

"And isn't in complete darkness. As for your question, no idea. We shouldn't linger too much but I think we can afford to stay here overnight."

*********

After eating their fill of junk food and the rest of the sandwiches, they headed to the back room.

Elias made a face at the bed. "I'll take the floor."

"Who knows when that's been cleaned? Unless you like lounging over titty magazines."

Elias pushed the magazines off to the sides. "No thanks. They're all fake anyway."

Tony grabbed the filthy sheets and blankets off the bed and threw them to the side. He studied the naked twin mattress. "At least the underneath isn't too bad. Help me turn this thing so I'm not sleeping on years old semen stains."

Elias grabbed one end of the mattress with Tony to flip it over. He looked down at the hidden side. "This is definitely an improvement over the other side."

"Wanna join me? I can't imagine the floor is great for your back."

Elias flushed and backed away. "No, the floor is fine."

Tony climbed into the bed to roll on his side. "Well if you change your mind, feel free to climb in. I won't be sleeping that long anyway."

**********


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've been found. Will it be Tony's last fight for survival?

Elias woke up with a start, sweat rolling down his face and chest. At first, he didn't know where he was and then Tony's twitching in the bed clued him in. He was about to get up and grab some water when he heard noises other than Tony.

He snuck out of the back area to hide behind the cash register.

No one was in the store itself, having to break in for that to be the case. Though he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was closing in on them.

Elias inched around the counter to look out one of the grimy windows. He squinted at bright light from the street to see if someone was outside this late at night.

He was about to write it off to just waking up when he spotted someone in black come into the street light and nod at someone else.

Elias swore under his breath, hurrying back to wake up Tony. He shook Tony's arm. "Tony, someone is outside."

Tony jerked and rolled over to look up. "Where am...what's wrong?"

Elias knelt beside by the bed and whispered, "Someone is outside with others. I have a feeling they're surrounding the building."

Tony swore and got up only to stop short.

Elias turned, blinking at the man with a mask over his face and a machine gun. He turned to Tony and said, "Now what?"

**********

Several men dragged them outside and shoved them hard to the ground.

Tony looked up first at a tall, stocky man standing over them and snorted. "They called in the big boys, huh? I haven't seen you in a while, Myrkkynen."

Myrkkynen grinned at Tony. "It has been a while, hasn't it? Though at least you gave me quite the subterfuge trying to find where the tunnel might end, save for walking it myself."

Elias turned to Tony. "I thought it wasn't detectable?"

Myrkkynen laughed at Elias' confusion. "Anything is detectable with enough patience. As it is, it meant hacking into satellites, messing with the displays, and coaxing other satellites to line up just right to see the end of it. Of course, we had no way of knowing if you were actually here or not. You could have died underground, but seeing as you have Tony with you that's not likely."

Tony got up from the ground. "I'm not going back, so just shoot me where I stand."

"I felt the same when I started there years ago. It was before you arrived and I doubt nothing much has changed. At least you didn't have to go through a regime change when the current leader had his boss murdered in the garage. That's probably why he's so paranoid that you might take his place doing the same thing. Though somehow I never pegged you as a person who liked to be that oppressed."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "And how would you know any of that? You said it yourself, you were long gone when I arrived and we've only seen each other a few times over the past five years."

"Oh Tony, do you really think I can't hack into that sort of thing? They give me everything to research before tracking you down. Without it, I would be helpless when I did encounter you."

Elias got up from the ground. "Then you know nothing of Tony. He would rather die than go back."

Myrkkynen glared at Elias. "I'm not finished, Viljanen. Quit interrupting."

Tony folded his arms across his chest. "Then get to the point. I can't be bothered to listen to a monologue if all you're going to do is kill me."

Myrkkynen moved forward to stand in front of Tony. "After all of my research, I found one glaring thing about you and that is you hold honor higher than anyone. You bested Marko after a full year of training in order to do so. You don't back down from challenges, and I'm impressed by that."

Elias stared at Tony. "You did?"

"I did and that's why I motivated you to do the same thing. It was the only way to could get you to keep pushing on. The prospect of beating the shit out of me is what kept you alive for the last year, just like it did when Make humiliated me on the mission to obtain him. I never forgave him for that until I was able to beat him."

Myrkkynen smiled. "Exactly and now I'm giving you the same option. I want to take on the man who beat Marko, as I never got that chance. If you win, I will let both of you go free and just tell my superiors that I ended up murdering you."

Tony scoffed. "And what's the catch? I don't believe for a moment your men are going to let us waltz out with no resistance."

"There is no catch, it's simply that. If you can beat me, or at least incapacitate me in some way, I will let you go. I've told them that you're an expert shot and won't hesitate to blow their heads off if given the chance."

Tony shrugged and then spoke, "I assume this is without weapons."

"Oh yes, I wouldn't dream of any other way."

Tony turned to Elias, pulling out a knife from his shirt and handing it to him. He then pulled out a total of five knives from various spots that Elias couldn't even comprehend being. He leaned into Elias and whispered, "If they renege on the deal, throw those at their heads."

"You're actually going through with this? What if he beats you?"

Tony patted Elias on the arm. "He won't because I have something up my sleeve if he starts to play dirty."

Myrkkynen handed off his gun and various weapons to one of his men. He turned back to the men circling around them. "No one is to interrupt our fight unless one of us dies or is mortally wounded. Beyond that, hold your ground and do not fire any bullets to sway either side. I will end this immediately if this occurs."

Tony got into a martial arts pose. "Understood. Let's begin this."

**********

Ten minutes later, both parties were heaving hard breaths and slouching over a little.

Myrkkynen shook his wet shoulder length black hair at Tony. "I didn't think we were so evenly matched, an oversight on my part."

Tony returned into a martial arts position and waited. "Are you going to talk or fight?"

Myrkkynen laughed and moved in again to take a swing at Tony, missing and connecting with air instead. He tried to right himself, but Tony moved in again to land a punch to Myrkkynen's ribs. The air whooshed out of him and he tumbled to the ground.

Tony backed off to allow Myrkkynen to get back up. He wanted to keep this a fair fight so his itchy trigger men wouldn't cry foul and try to take Tony out.

Myrkkynen spat out a mouthful of blood on the ground and pushed himself back up. "I'm getting sloppy."

"Want to end this? I believe you're losing, in dramatic fashion no less, but losing nevertheless. There's no harm in admitting defeat. It's something Elias needs to learn."

Elias rolled his eyes at the comment but said nothing.

Myrkkynen shook his head. "No, I want to finish this. I believe I'm still standing and able to block you."

Tony pointed to Myrkkynen's ribs. "No, you aren't. Those are now broken, meaning that I can keep aiming there and doing more damage until you collapse from hemorrhaging. I don't think you want to go down like that. Just let us leave like you promised and we can end this."

"You assume you'll get another opportunity for that. I won't make the same mistake twice."

Elias called out, "Yes, you will you idiot. It's the same mistake I made against Tony and I ended up in a hospital bed because of it. He knows you're weak on that side and he will use every opportunity to make it worse."

Tony motioned to Elias. "He's right. It was initially my job to find weaknesses in recruits and to have them corrected. If they didn't, they were eliminated."

Myrkkynen advanced on Tony, intent on aiming for Tony's upper chest but Tony sidestepped it. Instead, Tony grabbed Myrkkynen's left arm and started to twist it the wrong way.

A tortured howl rumbled out from Myrkkynen's stocky chest.

"I'm going to keep twisting it until it breaks unless you end this right now. There's no point in killing yourself to best someone who is out of your league."

Myrkkynen swung his right hand around until Tony saw it contained a small knife. 

Tony ducked, reaching down to pull something out of his shoe. He came back up and put it against Myrkkynen's balls. "I'll cut them straight off if you so much come any closer with that."

Myrkkynen moved back from Tony. "Bravo Tony, I had to wonder if you were actually going to be honorable in this and not have a weapon on you."

Tony pointed to the weapon in Myrkkynen's hand. "And what the hell is that?"

"You've caught me red-handed it seems. I fully expected you to pull a weapon a hell of a lot sooner than this. I didn't think I'd have to provoke you first. Elias is right, you won't stop until you've won no matter the cost."

Tony aimed the knife at Myrkkynen. "Now what?"

Myrkkynen nodded to his men. "We let you go as planned. Though a word before we leave. Elias mentioning he was in the hospital tells me that they might have marked him with another tag. I assume you've already removed the one on his hip but he could have another one. You might have to check him for others before continuing on."

Tony blinked at that statement. "How the hell did you know that? I've never seen them tag people twice."

"Let's just say being a high ranking operative offers me information that most would not be privy to. You've had a target on your head for a while, but your leader never acted on it until now. He was waiting for you to make your next move. I assume he pitted the two of you against each other at first, but I doubt he trusted Elias further than he could throw him. Remember, your former boss is paranoid and will do anything to keep in control."

Elias sighed. "More knives digging into me."

"No, they wouldn't bother to implant it inside you as that would counteract the other one. I'm talking about a tag on your skin that they can easily put on while they knocked you out with drugs. You'd never even know it was there until someone was directly looking at it."

Elias stared at Myrkkynen in disbelief.

Myrkkynen laughed and moved away, motioning to his men surrounding the building. "Good luck, Tony. I hope you get to the place you're intending to go."

Tony groaned at Elias. "I need to turn my GPS on again and we need to get out of here in case Myrkkynen forgets to tell them what he said he would."

**********

Marksson frowned at his display. "Sir, I'm getting some sort of signal but I can't identify it."

Tommy moved over to look down. "Where are you on the map?"

"Well, I was following east to see if we could locate where the tunnel might have gone out and I just kept going east until I ran into what appears to be a convenience store. That's when I noticed that signal."

Tommy stared at the faint glow on the screen. "Can you zoom in closer?"

"Not with this satellite but let me switch over to another one."

Tommy waited and then Tony and Elias' faces came into view. "Elias has another tag?"

Sorenson moved over to look at the display. "You've found them! I'll radio to Myrkkynen."

Tommy pointed at the men walking away from the convenience store. "Can you identify those men?"

Marksson typed into his keyboard and one of them popped up. "Only the bigger man is showing up. He's named...."

Tommy turned to call out to Sorenson, "Don't bother, he already found Tony and apparently is leaving."

Sorenson stared at Tommy.

"No idea as we don't have an audio feed on Myrkkynen."

Sorenson radioed to Myrkkynen. "Report! Why are you leaving Kakko to escape?"

A snort came over the radio. "I don't answer to you, newbie. I've done what I felt was right."

Sorenson fists balled up at his sides. "That's not part of the deal!"

"I made no such deal. If you want to get him, then do it yourself or are you not enough of a man to do it without risking others?"

Tommy's eyebrow rose but he said nothing.

Sorenson bristled with anger. "Get back there and capture Kakko!"

"Goodbye newbie, it was nice chatting with you, but as you can see or maybe not see I'm on the way to the hospital. Broken ribs tend to be tricky to fix and I'd rather not die from it."

"Kakko broke your ribs?"

"He did in what I have to say was the ultimate fight between us. That's why I'm letting him go - he beat me fair and square. I have to admire anyone who can keep me on my toes and goad me into bad decisions like leaving my left side open for him to hit. I won't forget that."

Sorenson stepped away from the console when the signal went dead and muttered, "I am so fucked."

**********

Elias and Tony hurried to gather their stuff up along with any food they could carry to sustain them for the next part of the journey.

Tony switched on his GPS unit to mask Elias' tag again. "I should have known they would put another tag on you. It means I'm going to have to thoroughly search you when we get to the gas station."

"We're still going to that? I thought we were further ahead than it was."

"We are but it's the next place to sleep at unless we run into something else."

"Why not try to cross the border now?"

Tony packed up his bag. "We're still a good 40 kilometers away. There's no way we can do that much in a day. Especially since it's almost mid-morning. We have two more days to transverse it because there's a specific place we have to do it. Any other place will get us shot on sight and I don't want to die like that."

Elias shouldered his duffel and happened to look down at Tony's GPS. "What the hell is that behind this store?"

"It looks to be a motorcycle, but it's probably dead or lacking gas."

Elias stroked his chin and headed out the front door.

Tony grabbed his bag and followed him. "Where are you going?"

Elias went around the building to check out the motorcycle. He stopped short and gaped. "Fuck, that's a Harley."

Tony shuffled over to him. "Is that supposed to mean something? I mean, I know it's brand of motorcycle."

Elias dropped his bag and approached the motorcycle. "No way would someone leave this out in the open, it's practically brand new. I wonder if that suited man rode it here and they didn't notice it when they left."

"Could be, but it doesn't matter much in the long run. I can't drive a motorcycle."

Elias grinned and put his leg over the saddle. He groaned when he shifted up on the seat. "I haven't ridden one of these in years." He looked down to spot keys in the ignition. "Who the hell would leave their keys in the ignition?"

"Someone who thought it would be a quick meeting. Too bad he was dead wrong."

Elias groaned at the pun and revved the engine to life. "I think I have a better way to get us to that gas station. Or even to the next place on your plot."

"A motorcycle is too trackable by satellites."

"You're blocking their signal anyway. This is a hell of a lot faster than walking 25 kilometers for the rest of the day. We could shave hours off our trip."

Tony looked at the two bags. "We can't fit those on it."

Elias switched the motorcycle off and looked inside the back compartment. "One of them will fit in this for sure. We can latch the other over it with these bungee cords."

Tony shuffled over to deposit his bag in the compartment. "We might as well put the guns in there and leave the food outside."

"Wait, let me grab a gun in case we need to shoot from the motorcycle. I already know you're armed to the teeth with all of those knives. I don't even know where you pulled most of those out of."

Tony winked at Elias, pulling out his handgun to put in his jacket. "That's probably for the best." 

Once they secured the gear, Elias revved the engine back up. "It looks like we have almost a full tank, so he must have put some in nearby."

Tony hesitated.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing and it's not like the whole trip is going to be on this. Just this part of it since it's faster than walking along roads to nowhere."

Tony climbed behind Elias.

Elias took his hands off the handlebars and placed Tony's hands around his waist. "You're going to want to hold on. Trust me I don't like it any more than you do, but I'd rather you not falling off during a turn."

Tony held onto Elias' middle. "I have no problems holding you, it's the cops that I'm worried about."

"I'll be careful and follow the speed limit. The last thing we need is to get pulled over."

***********

Tony buried his face into Elias' back to avoid the whipping wind. He sighed at the warmth coming from Elias' body and remembered his high school boyfriend.

They'd fuck behind the school most times. Though when his boyfriend's family was out of town, they stayed in bed afterward holding each other close. Tony missed the warmth, the protection, and safeness of those long arms.

Well, at least until that night.

It was then that Tony never felt safe again. No more warmth and no more protection, just struggling to survive in prison and later on.

Safeness was the last thing he really needed and yet he craved it like a drug.

He hoped the village they'd all picked out ahead of time would be that place. 

And maybe, just maybe, Tony would find that safeness again.

*********

Elias pulled off to the side and pointed in the distance. "We have a problem."

Tony swore, noticing several local police cars across the road. He pulled out his GPS and flicked through a few screens. "Let's head back and take the first road to the west. We'll have to backtrack but it will get us to the gas station without having to go through that."

Elias turned the motorcycle around to head back up the way they came. "I'd imagine it's going to get harder to cross once we get closer to Russia."

Tony stowed away the GPS and held onto Elias again. "That's why I didn't like this idea in the first place. It's easier to sneak through on foot than it is on a motorcycle."

"Maybe, but we're still off from our target anyway. Shaving off several hours of walking will save us time and energy."

As they drove away, neither of them noticed one of the local police get into their car and start to follow them.

**********

Elias was turning on the westbound road when he noticed the police car behind them. "Oh fuck, one of them is following us."

Tony turned to look back. "Dammit, why didn't we notice that?"

Elias finished his turn and sped up to regain his speed again. "What do you want to do about him? We can't shoot him because he might be in contact with the others."

Tony pulled out his GPS and followed the road they were on. "Well, we have two options. We can either speed up to lose him or just continue to our destination and kill him there."

"How many kilometers until the gas station?"

Tony calculated it. "It's about ten if we follow this road."

"Then let's wait until we're about a couple kilometers away and then try and lose him."

"Or just kill him now. That way he has no idea where we might be headed and have a chance to tell the others before we kill him."

Elias winced. "I don't like the idea of killing an innocent. Yes, he's following us but he's not one of the men sent by our former leader. Does he really deserve to be shot in cold blood?"

Tony readied his handgun. "It's about completing the mission, Elias. We have no choice but to eliminate anyone in our way."

Elias slowed down enough for Tony to aim.

Tony took a deep breath and aimed. He blinked when an idea came into his head and changed his aim.

Elias' jaw clenched when he heard the gun go off, knowing the man was probably dead thanks to Tony's expert aim. What he didn't expect was to hear more gunshots and brakes sounding behind him. He turned to see the car careening off to the side and hit a tree. "Did you miss?"

"Nope, just took out his front tires."

Elias sped back up. "I thought you were going to kill him?"

"I was but I changed my mind when I realized we could just disable the car. We're far away from our destination that he won't know where we were going."

"But won't he radio people to start looking for us?"

Tony stowed away his gun and held onto Elias again. "Nope, I took out his radio first and then the tires. He's got nothing to use other than shitty walkie-talkies and those have a limited radius out here in the forests."

Elias laughed. "You're going soft on me, Kakko."

"You're to blame for that. Always the bleeding heart when it comes to killing people. Besides, since we lost him you might as well speed up so they can't find us."

Elias stepped on the gas and sped down the empty road.

*********

They arrived at the gas station twenty minutes later. 

Tony motioned to the garage area. "Stow the motorcycle in there once we get inside. If they do follow us, they'll see this and immediately know we're inside."

Elias moved them over to the front door. "Are you just going to break the front glass to get in?"

Tony got off the bike to rummage in a small planter box with no flowers growing in it. He pulled out a rusted box and slid it open to reveal a key inside.

Elias watched Tony unlock the front door. "How the hell did you know that was there?"

"Because I planted it there years ago. We were on some mission and I noticed the key was sitting in the lock. I buried it so I could use this as an escape route."

Elias stared at him.

"Like I said before, I've been planning this for five years. I've tried to make the mission as easy as possible for us."

Elias rolled the motorcycle into the garage when Tony opened the door. It shut behind him once he was clear of it. He turned to Tony who was standing in the doorway leading to the interior part. "How does this place still have power?"

"I've been paying it via a stolen credit card. Thankfully it's really cheap since no one is here."

After grabbing the two duffels, Elias followed Tony inside the main part of the store. He frowned at the lack of anything inside of it. "Not much to survive on here."

"There's not much I could do about that. I had no idea if it even still existed or not. We have enough to survive on from the other place. I made sure to pack a lot of protein bars and water."

Elias looked around and noticed a back area. "Is that where we sleep?"

Tony moved forward into it to spot a rolled up sleeping bag in the corner. "Looks like we're sharing tonight."

Elias made a face and moved out of the room.

"But first, we need to make sure no one is following us."

Elias sat on the ground and watched Tony plug in his GPS to the wall. "Now I know why you kept paying the power."

"Gotta keep it alive since it's almost dead at this point. I've been trying to keep it off but since I have to jam your tag again it's eating up the battery. Either way, it looks like we're in the clear. I see no one coming our way and the cop car is still in the ditch."

"Is he dead?"

Tony shook his head. "No, he's walking back on foot. He about a kilometer away from it. Looks like I managed to take out his radio after all."

Elias laid on the hard floor and stretched his back.

Tony glanced up to watch him.

Elias brought his knees up to his chest and did a few stretches on his hips.

"Back tight?"

Elias did another stretch. "No, it's my hips. I'm not used to riding anymore and they're sore from it."

Tony set the GPS to the side. "I should check you now, and then I don't have to waste batteries on your tag."

Elias sighed but kept stretching.

"You'll need to strip for me. They would have put it in a spot you couldn't easily see and that means you'll need to be completely naked for me to search you."

Elias got up off the ground and started to take his clothes off. "You might as well do it when we still have light outside."

Tony moved over to Elias, letting his eyes take in each part of flesh Elias bared to him. He'd seen Elias naked before but it was the first time it was in front of him. Video cameras didn't do Elias' muscular body any justice, missing the little curves of muscles on his legs and arms.

Elias scoffed at Tony's eyes aimed at his chest. "My eyes are up here, Kakko."

Tony shrugged and moved to stand in front of Elias. "Turnabout is fair play, or so they say. You were gawking at me earlier so now it's my turn."

Elias looked away when Tony's hands slipped down his chest, feeling for anything weird.

Tony noticed it and moved down further. "It's not likely to be somewhere you can see in a mirror. That being said, I'm going to have to inspect your lower half thoroughly."

Elias bit his lip, silently urging his body to behave with Tony's touches around his cock.

"Trust me, Viljanen, you're not the first guy I've touched. I get no pleasure from looking for hidden tags on you, despite what your cock might think."

Elias swore when he felt himself get hard.

Tony chuckled and felt around Elias' balls. "Well, I can say one thing you're healthy. That prostate is working like it should."

Elias rolled his eyes. "Just get on with it."

Tony sat down on the ground and felt along Elias' backside. "If they really wanted to be tricky, they'd put it in a place that's not easy to access. I mean, it's not like you get off on having dicks in your ass anyway. It would probably be...."

Elias looked down. "What?"

Tony slid his fingers along the inside folds of Elias' ass. "And I was right. Let me get it off and then you can get dressed again."

Elias waited for Tony to get to his feet. He stared at the black speck on Tony's finger. "That's what it is?"

"Yep, small enough to look like mole or beauty mark but still be fake enough to notice if you were looking right at it."

Elias retrieved his clothes and put them back on. "What if one of those is on you too?"

Tony shook his head. "I haven't been in the medical bay for years."

"So what? They could have marked you some other way. I want to make sure now that I know what I'm looking for."

Tony's jaw tightened. "No, it's a waste of time."

Elias rolled his eyes and went for Tony's pants. "Yeah well, I making it a waste of time anyway."

Tony grabbed Elias' hand. "I said no."

Elias shoved Tony back, yanking Tony's pants down. Before Tony could stop him, Elias pulled the underwear down too.

"Happy now?"

Elias stared at Tony's crotch with wide eyes.

"Now you know what she did to me on that night. It's also the reason I shower alone and never let anyone see me change."

Elias shook his head. "How could anyone do this to someone? It looks like she cut it clear off."

"She pretty much did. I managed to get to a hospital out of town before bleeding to death. I gave them a fake name and they fashioned it be something to pee out of and that's about it."

Elias studied the mangled area. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Elias got up from the ground. "For making you take your pants off. I wanted to humiliate you like you did to me earlier but not like this. I never expected to see that."

"You might as well look just in case. It's not like I can feel anything down there anyway. The nerves are all fucked."

Elias shuffled down on his knees. He felt around the little area for Tony's cock and the balls underneath.

Tony closed his eyes and tried to ignore the look of horror on Elias' face as he touched each area. It was the same in prison the first time they tried to rape him. Once they saw what had happened, most didn't even bother with him. His cellmate was the first one to touch it and Tony couldn't feel anything, figuring the nerves were gone and no pleasure would ever come from it. They fucked a few times before they killed the man in a fight, but Tony always wondered if he would ever feel anything down there again.

Elias' fingers moved around to the backside, feeling for anything out of the ordinary.

Tony sighed, the fingers sliding down and he bit his lip at the emotions brewing inside. She managed to cut off his dick but she couldn't stop him from feeling it back there. The actual sex felt halfway because nothing was going on in front, but it was nice nevertheless.

Elias moved in closer, breathing on Tony's naked skin. "I think I might have found something. I'm just letting you know in advance before I put my fingers in that area."

Tony moaned when Elias' fingers rubbed and pulled off something. He really needed to rein in his emotions when he was like this, he was liable to do something very bad.

Elias got to his feet with a raised eyebrow. "Are you getting off on that?"

Tony's eyes opened. "No, what did you find?"

Elias held up the black speck. "Looks like you were marked too."

***********

Sorenson swore at the display. "Report! Where did they go?"

"We're not sure, sir. It appears they gained a motorcycle and drove off to the south."

Sorenson glanced over at Tommy. "Can you track a motorcycle?"

Tommy touched Marksson's chair. "Hunt around the area for any vehicles."

Marksson searched the area around the convenience store. "Looks like there's some sort of blockage at the end of that road. I guess that eliminates one area from the directions."

Tommy looked at the display. "Are those local cops?"

"Yes, and it appears one of them was shoved off the road somehow northwest of it. His car is in the ditch and the driver is walking back to the blockage area. I wonder why he didn't use his radio."

Sorenson looked closer at the display. "Are those gunshots on the car?"

Marksson zoomed in on the car. "Yes, in the front. That explains the radio. It was shot out."

Tommy pointed to the tires. "And those were shot out as well. Front tires don't just explode when they go off the road. Tony's been this way."

Sorenson frowned at Tommy. "Why the hell didn't he just kill the cop?"

"What would be the point? He's not from our team and really all Tony would need is time to get away. Shooting out the radio and tires forces that cop to walk like he is right now."

Marksson followed the road to stop on an abandoned gas station. "This is the only building I'm finding so far on this path. Could they have stopped there? I'm not finding anybody inside from the satellite images but he could be blocking us again."

Sorenson radioed to the field team. "Proceed to the abandoned gas station due south and little west from your position. I'm giving you the coordinates now."

**********

Tony pulled up his pants and wandered away from Elias. "It would have never happened had my boyfriend at the time not run away like a coward. He left me defenseless and I had no idea she would do that. I realized it right before she came down with the knife."

Elias shook his head. "She was that ashamed of you that she felt the need to disfigure you to make you straight? What kind of reasoning is that?"

"The same kind of reasoning your father had when he tried to rape you. Neither of them was thinking straight at all and both paid with their lives. I didn't hesitate for a second after she did it. I smashed her face into the counter while trying to strangle her. I was so pissed at her actions that I didn't care." Tony stopped to sigh. "It wasn't until afterward I realized what I'd done. Also the fact that I was getting woozy from standing. I stole her car and drove to the hospital."

Elias sat on the floor again. "I felt ashamed for being abused by my father that I never brought it up in court. They did find out later but it was only after they examined me."

"It was the same for me. I didn't want to admit that she cut my dick off. They found out later when they recovered the car and found blood in the front seat. There wasn't enough blood from my mother to cause that. That's when they forced me to submit for a medical examination and discovered the real reason I killed her."

Elias shook his head. "I just can't comprehend something like that. I can't even imagine how it was for you to cope. Though knowing you like I do, I doubt you ever did."

Tony wandered around the room. "What was to cope with? I have no dick, that's a fact. It's not as if I couldn't notice it missing every time I changed clothes. In fact, I made sure to do it as fast as possible so I didn't have to see it. The memory of her doing it to me still haunts my dreams so I didn't need a visual of it."

"You know what I mean, Tony. Coming to terms with what happened to you. If you're still being haunted by it, then you haven't coped with it."

Tony turned back to look at Elias. "Neither have you considering every time I mention anything to do with your abuse or your father you get riled up. I will when you do."

Elias got up from the ground to approach Tony. "Just because I still get jumpy thinking back to being abused doesn't mean I haven't dealt with it. It's a reflex at this point. Just like you defending yourself when someone tries to hit you."

"The only reason I learned to be that good is to defend myself against Marko."

Elias looked into Tony's brown eyes. "And not to defend yourself from others who try to take advantage of you or try to harm you in any way? I can't imagine they didn't tease you in prison because of it. I'm pretty sure you got good at martial arts in order to fight back against those demons."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "Isn't my line for your progress? You weren't just doing it to beat me, you were doing it to clear your head from the nightmares you were having. Just because you had access to watch me, doesn't mean I wasn't watching you as well."

Elias leaned closer into Tony. "So basically we're the same. We had the initial motivation to best someone who was our superior but along the way it helped us cope with past things."

Tony smiled at Elias. "In a way, but I purposely motivated you along with the premise of trying to beat me. I coerced you into taking the bait, but I could see it change you for the better. You're not nearly as much of a hothead as you were when you first arrived. Yes, you still took swings at me when you got frustrated, but it was less frequent."

"I think I would have been motivated to kick your ass anyway. In fact, I still want a chance at doing just that once we cross the border and end up where we'll ultimately stay. You owe me that much for all of this."

Tony laughed. "What's this we stuff? Don't you want to get as far away from me as possible?"

Elias moved back a little. "Maybe at first, but you won't survive without me covering for you."

"I could do all of this myself, but it's better to have another set of eyes as a lookout. Hell, I planned most of it by myself once it was agreed upon five years ago."

"Still, I'm going to make sure you get to where you need to be. Then I'll figure out what I should do with the rest of my life."

A bullet smashed the front door window.

Both ducked to the ground and inched over to the duffels.

Tony pulled out his gun and a spare clip. "Don't they ever learn?"

Elias readied a rifle and aimed. "Apparently not."

*********


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias and Tony race for the Russian border. Will they make it across or will someone lose their life?

Sorenson grit his teeth as the bullets flew around the area. "Are they even trying?"

"I don't remember asking for them to be eliminated yet."

Sorenson turned to face their leader. "They're not trying to, just trying to get them out. Kakko and Viljanen are not making it easy."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "This is not going to work, just like it didn't around the house. We need to be ahead of them not trailing behind."

The leader's eyebrow rose. "And how do you propose to do that?"

Tommy motioned to Malainen. "He might have the path Tony is taking. You see, there are gaps in Russia's security and Tony might be aiming for one of them. One in particular is right here, directly southeast from their position. If we can get to that gap before they do, we can ambush them before they have time to fight back. Right now we're just being picked off like sitting ducks as they wait for us to approach."

The leader glanced over at Sorenson. "What do you think about this plan?"

Sorenson scoffed at Tommy. "I think he's leading us away from where Tony is going to be. I don't trust anything Tommy says at this point, like his convenient cameras not syncing up."

Tommy's eyebrow rose. "If I was helping Tony, why the hell would I lead you to where he might be headed? We all know Tony is trying to cross the Russian border. There would be no point to get this close if he wasn't trying to go across undetected. This is the closest gap. Sure, there are others but why would Tony go even further south to go into them?"

"Then let's station people at all of the gaps. That way we'll even the odds."

Tommy laughed. "Tony and Elias have wiped out twenty-five men at this point, plus whoever is on the current team. Do you even have enough men for every spot? Why spread yourself thin than aiming for one of them?"

The leader looked down at Malainen's display. "We are getting thin on men, but I believe we can do the spot you're talking about and this one south of it. That way if he happens to see the first set, he won't expect the second set."

Tommy said to Sorenson, "Then you might as well pull out the men currently shooting at Kakko and Viljanen. You're going to need them."

**********

Elias glanced up at the lack of gunfire. "Are they retreating?

Tony looked out from behind a metal cabinet. "Looks like it. I wonder if they're planning something. I sincerely hope it isn't to blow this place sky high. Even the leader wouldn't be that stupid with old gas tanks underneath us. Though Sorenson probably would if he's still leading this."

"That would explain the stupidity these guys are exhibiting. I mean, sure they didn't expect us to blow up a building but this is too easy. They have to know both of us are trained weapons experts at this point."

Tony inched over to the GPS unit to look at it. "It looks like they're moving away. They're all piling into two vans and heading southward."

Elias got up from the ground. "Do you think they know where we're heading to next?"

"If they do, Tommy will make sure it's not the right spot. There are many spots along the border that have openings, so he probably sent them down to one south of ours to throw them off."

"Why would Tommy be helping us?"

Tony laughed. "Because he needs us to get to the location first. Did you really think I was just doing this for my own selfish needs? It's to make sure the safe house is safe before they can get out."

"But how are they getting out? I doubt the leader will just let them waltz out."

Tony winked at Elias. "Never mind that, it will come into play later once we get to the house and secure it."

Elias' eyebrow rose. "Why do I have a feeling there's more to it than that?"

"There is, obviously, but they're waiting for me to give them access to it. Once I do, other things will take place. As I said before, I've been planning this for five years and all of them know what they must do when I get to the safe house."

*********

Tommy watched the team head south and breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they didn't see Tony leave for the east like the plan dictated, they wouldn't suspect that Tommy had given them the wrong information. Malainen had only seen the southern gaps and not the one directly east from Tony's position, so until that happened Tommy had to bide his time and wait.

Even Tony knew that Tommy couldn't protect him every step of the way without being noticed, but little things like this make it look like he was still trying to track Tony down.

Malainen nodded. "The team is at the first location."

Sorenson called into to the second team. "Proceed to the south of the first team to the next location. We don't know when Tony plans to cross, so it might be until tomorrow morning. Take turns watching if you need to."

Marksson frowned at his display. "I can't break through that abandoned gas station they're in. What the hell is Tony using to block us?"

Tommy shrugged. "No idea, but I have a feeling Tony poached things from various missions. Since the people were dead by his hand, it's not as if they were going to come looking for them. Several used what would be considered satellite or signal jammers. That's probably what he's using or something modified to do that."

Sorenson moved away from the console.

Tommy blinked at the reaction and hoped he wasn't heading for Henkka.

That's all they needed right now.

**********

Henkka glanced up in time to see Sorenson coming for him. He held his ground and waited. Letting up that he was helping Tony was not a good idea at this point.

Sorenson pointed to the back area. "Do you have signal jammers in there?"

Henkka frowned at the question. "Why would I? We have computers for that."

"Just answer the question, Klingenberg."

Henkka shook his head. "No, I don't have any jammers in my kits. There would be no need with all of the technology we have here on our computers. I assume you're asking because of Tony."

"Yes, he's using a jammer on our satellite tracking and I want to know how he's doing it."

Henkka shrugged. "It could be any manner of things. There are portable jammers, but what if Tony managed to extract his tags? If he did, you wouldn't be able to track him anyway. Same with Elias if Tony took it off him."

"We figured that out already, but that doesn't explain the satellite jamming. He has something that I believe you constructed for him."

Henkka laughed. "Why the hell would I do that? Sure, I liked Tony but that would mean instant death on my part. Do you really think I'm that stupid? Besides, he probably got them on missions. Several of the terrorists we've tracked down over the years had something similar. All he'd have to do is obtain one of those and he'd be all set. There would be no need to build one from scratch."

Sorenson sneered at Henkka. "Somehow I don't believe you."

Henkka went back to cleaning the guns. "Suit yourself, but I think you're not giving Tony enough credit for his skills. He's way more advanced in electronics and weapons than you think he is."

**********

Tony and Elias sat near each other eating some food.

Elias glanced over at Tony. "Should we stay here overnight?"

"Yes, I think so since they're probably headed to the border."

Elias finished off his protein bar. "Are we heading for the border tomorrow? It's still twenty-five kilometers away."

"I was thinking about that. Since we still have the motorcycle, we might as well use it to get close to where we need to be and then ditch it into the woods or somewhere out of the way. Then just cross over the border on foot when the gap opens."

Elias pointed to the duffel bags. "Should we lighten the load for the trek on foot? I doubt we need this much ammunition once we cross over to Russia."

Tony ate the rest of his lunch and dug into the ammunition duffel. "We might want to ditch the rifles unless you think we need it for the field ops. We can each carry some of the handguns and clips. I don't think we need the rest of the bombs or detonators."

"How much do we have to travel on foot to the safe house?"

Tony grabbed his GPS. "It's a twenty-kilometer trip but there is a small hotel along the way that we could stay in. We have money on us and I have some rubles as well."

"But neither of us can speak Russian."

Tony laughed and pointed to himself. "I know enough to get around. I wouldn't have picked this place if I didn't. Plus the village we're headed for speaks both languages."

"We're headed for Karelia?"

Tony got up from the ground to stretch. "Yes, it's the most logical place for former Finns to go. It's still part of Russia so our former leader can't touch us even if he managed to figure it out."

"But it's in the south. We're not far enough down to hit that part of Karelia."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "Why do you say that? Finns are all over Karelia and the northern part is close enough for us to get the outer edge anyway. We're not that far into it, the house is lining it."

"Still, won't people be suspicious if we just waltz in?"

Tony patted Elias' shoulder. "They're already suspicious because that house is owned by a mysterious person who never appears. Not a surprise since we've all been locked up until now. If anything, they'll be amused that I finally appeared."

"You used your real name to buy it?"

"Obviously not, I used the same name for the last house - Caleb Katala. The only reason they can't link the two together is that all Russian property ownership is under tight security. To even tap into it, constitutes as an act of war."

"Fine, but it seems a bit odd to be that close to Finland and still be safe."

Tony smiled. "There will be other things that take place to ensure no one will find us. You just have to be patient."

*********** 

Elias frowned at the sleeping bag on the floor. "There's only one of them."

Tony climbed into it. "We'll have to share. It's only for a few hours anyway. I promise to not snore in your ear."

Elias hesitated and then got into the sleeping bag behind Tony. There wasn't much room to maneuver, their bodies almost pressed against each other. He tried not touching Tony's body with his hands but there wasn't anywhere to put them other than folded across his chest.

Tony laughed, shaking the sleeping bag. "You can put those around my waist if you want. Better than sleeping like a human pretzel."

"I'm not into guys, Tony. You're the last person I want to snuggle."

Tony shrugged, bumping into one of Elias' arms. "Suit yourself, but it's definitely a more comfortable position than the one you're in now."

"How do you even know that? You're facing the wrong way."

"I can tell by how the sleeping bag is pushing outward. You're trying not to touch me and it's stretching the fabric. It's the little things that you need to learn to focus on while out. They could save your life later."

***********

Elias woke up when something hit his body. He wasn't sure where he was and then he realized it was Tony hitting him. 

Tony's body moved around and whimpered like a hurt dog.

Elias thought about waking Tony but wondered if that was a good idea. Tony didn't sleep as much as he should, at least compared to Elias. Then there was the fact that Tony was armed to the teeth with knives, so Elias could very well get hurt even trying to wake him up.

Instead, he let a sigh escape his lips before wrapping his arms around Tony's body, pulling it flush to his own.

The flailing continued for a few more seconds and then stopped entirely. Tony's breathing returned to normal and he seemed to be out of the nightmare.

Elias bit his lip, the warmth of Tony's body doing all sorts of unwanted things to his own body. He tried to ignore that Tony fit perfectly against his own, tucking in a spot that would normally hold a girlfriend. Not that he'd had one of those in years, but the sensation was still the same.

Not to mention being this close, he could feel Tony breathe when he slept, an odd staccato rhythm that differed from his own. It was hypnotic to Elias, lulled by the vibrations on his chest.

His eyes started to drift shut, his mind finally giving up with the protests in the bath of warmth.

*********

Tony groaned, his side aching from sleeping in the same position all night. At least he assumed they'd slept all night since there were no windows in the back area to know for sure. He was about to get up when he realized Elias was holding him close.

His eyes fluttered, wondering what prompted Elias to want to hold onto him so tightly after last night's protests. Either way, he wasn't going to complain about the extra warmth of Elias' sleeping body.

It had been years since he slept with anyone, much less woken up with them wrapped around his body. He knew Elias wasn't interested in him and it was fine, though he did wonder why Elias was so intent in following him to Karelia. He assumed Elias would drop him the instant they crossed over to Russia, happy to be rid of him once and for all.

And yet, Elias stayed by Tony's side so far along the journey. It bugged him because he wasn't sure what Elias' motives were or if he even had any to begin with.

A part of him wanted to believe that Elias had feelings for him, but that was a pipe dream for his own fantasies. With the way Tony treated Elias early on, there would be no way of that ever happening but it didn't stop his mind from wishing for it to be true.

To finally find that part of him missing for years.

Tony rolled his eyes at the way his mind had to go back to that. There was no person destined for him and the sooner he realized it the better. 

Wishing for fairytales will only get you killed in the end.

**********

Elias moaned, holding the warmth in front of him close. He kissed the exposed neck, tasting the flesh and wondering why it tasted so different.

His hands ran down the front of shirt covered chest, feeling the bumps of ribs and other things he couldn't quite make out. He frowned when he reached what he thought were breasts but he only found hard nipples.

A gasped sounded. "As much as I'm enjoying this little diversion, we should probably get up."

Elias' hands froze.

Tony chuckled and turned around in Elias' arms to face him. "Expecting someone else?"

Elias turned bright red.

Tony grinned and leaned in to hover over Elias' lips. "For as much as you protested last night, you didn't have any problems holding me close while you slept."

Elias swallowed hard, his eyes on Tony's red lips. "You were convulsing in your sleep."

"Why the hell didn't you wake me? That would have stopped it."

Elias scoffed. "And risk getting knifed in the gut? No thanks."

Tony laughed and pulled back. "Good point. So what did you do?"

"I held you close, it seemed to stop the flaying. I must have fallen asleep like that."

Tony stared at Elias.

"Maybe you just needed a bit of comfort in your dreams."

Tony reached out to touch Elias with both hands, rubbing the stubble on Elias' unshaved face. "Maybe I still need some."

Elias swallowed hard, everything inside was telling him no. Except his body wasn't listening when he touched the back of Tony's head to bring his lips closer.

Tony's eyes drifted shut...and then pulled back suddenly, his eyes going wide. 

"What is it?"

Tony wiggled out of Elias' arms and stood at the doorway. He whispered to Elias, "Listen."

Elias got out of bed and listened.

Tony swore, heading back in to get his shoes and coat on. 

It was then Elias realized there were police sirens in the distance.

**********

Marksson frowned at the display. "Sir, we have a problem."

Tommy looked down and gaped. "Is that local police? Have they left yet?"

"I can't track them, but their stuff is still inside. That much I can see."

The leader called out to Tommy, "What is it?"

Tommy wondered just how Tony would escape this. "The local police have tracked down Tony's position. I assume the walking cop finally made it back to the roadblock."

Sorenson was about to call to the field teams when their leader stopped him. He turned and frowned. "What? We can have our men there to surround the building."

"The last thing we need is to have local police see our team with assault weapons in hand. We'll let this play out for now to see what happens. If they managed to capture Tony and Elias, then we'll intercede."

"And what happens if Kakko escapes again?"

"I don't even think Tony can get out of this."

**********

Tony got on his hands and knees to slide over to their duffel bags. He whispered back to Elias as he tossed them over to him, "We have to get out of here. The cops are almost here and the front door is out of the question."

Elias looked at the back wall. "There has to be a back exit to get the garbage out."

Tony moved over to the back wall, to touch along it and finally found a door. "You were right, come on."

Elias shook his head. "Go outside and wait for me. I need to get something."

"What?"

Elias pointed to the garage. "Our escape route."

"You can't be serious. They're going to hear that being revved up the moment you turn it on."

Elias grinned at Tony. "Then I won't turn it on."

***********

Tommy watched in horror as five police cars positioned themselves in front of the gas station. He saw one of them talk into a bullhorn. "Get me patched into their car audio. We might be able to hear what's going on."

Malainen typed into his computer and brought up a signal. He patched it into the comm speakers.

Tommy listened and then said, "Asking Tony to come out with his hands up is a pointless move. Then again, they have no idea both men inside are trained killers."

The leader patched into that feed. "You never know, Tony might do something less expected of him. He's made a habit of doing just that over the years."

Two police officers got out one of the cars and inched toward the front door with guns in hands.

Tommy whispered, "Kakko, you better do something soon."

***********

Elias rolled the motorcycle out and into the back of the convenience store. Tony was already there with the duffels. He helped Tony stow them away and take out a gun for each of them just in case. "Now what?"

Tony reached for his GPS and then realized it wasn't on him. He swore and got off the motorcycle to head back inside.

"What are you doing?"

Tony inched inside, the silhouette of two men coming into view on the front door made his heart race, but he felt around the wall to grab the GPS and charger. He backed away, with his front facing the door just in case the two men smashed it in before Tony had a chance to escape.

They did, just as Tony closed the back door.

Elias grabbed Tony and put him back on the bike. He was about to rev up the engine when Tony's hand stopped him. He whispered, "What?"

Tony got off the bike and opened one of the duffel bags. "I have an idea."

Elias flinched, the noise inside the gas station building getting closer to their position. "Hurry up!"

Tony rolled his eyes and then got back on the motorcycle. "Move as close as you can to that outer edge and then stop. Try to give me a clear view of the front without them seeing. I have a surprise for them."

**********

Marksson blinked as his video footage started to get hazy. "What the hell?"

Tommy stared at it and then laughed. "Smoke bombs. Nice one, Tony."

Malainen called out, "They're on a motorcycle. By the sound of it, they're heading south as we predicted."

Marksson watched the policemen drop to the ground and didn't move. "Did he kill them?"

Tommy studied the footage and then it dawned on him. "Sleeping gas. It's a gas bomb. Check one of them for vitals."

Marksson scanned a body and the results popped up. "You're right, sir. They're all asleep."

Sorenson swore. "Just enough so they could get away again! I'm getting really tired of this. How can we compete with someone like this?"

The leader eyed Sorenson. "By getting ahead of them. We have that advantage and with a little luck, we will capture Kakko and Viljanen before they even know what hit them."

**********

Elias stopped the motorcycle and looked back. "Why aren't they following us?"

Tony laughed. "It's hard to drive when you're asleep."

"You put them to sleep?"

Tony pulled out a shiny ball. "With one of these - a sleeping gas bomb. It only knocks them out for maybe ten minutes, but it's enough time to escape. In other words, keep going!"

Elias started moving again. "Where is the next turn?"

"It's coming up on the left. Then we just keep going east until we reach the forest. That's when we'll ditch the motorcycle, lighten our load, and continue on foot. It's about two kilometers until the border after that."

Elias bit his lip.

Tony tapped his back. "What is it? You're tensing again."

Elias scoffed. "Will it really be that easy to cross the border?"

"Who said it would be easy? Of course it won't be, but we have an advantage of knowing when the right time is. In fact, we might have to wait until nightfall in order to do it. It all depends on the spotlight patterns and the correct opportunity to cross, in essence a waiting game."

"But what about their sensors? I can't believe they'd just ignore a certain area for a portion of time."

Tony pulled out his GPS. "What do you think this is for? It's only going to give us sixty seconds to cross, but it's enough if we run for it when the searchlights aren't on the area. The problem will be the field ops trying to intercept us. I assume Tommy put them south of where we're going to be, but I can't be sure until we get there. We might be in for a fight before we can cross or worse yet they'll alert the Russian government that we're attempting it."

Elias frowned at that prospect.

Tony held onto Elias' middle after stowing the GPS again. "There's no point in worrying about something that hasn't happened yet. We could get lucky and nothing will happen."

**********

Elias stopped by the entrance to a forest. The clouds overhead had turned black with the prospect of an incoming storm. "Is this the forest?"

Tony pulled out his GPS and looked at it. "Yes, this is it. Time to say goodbye our motorcycle and useless gear."

Elias stroked the chrome finish. "Goodbye, beautiful. It's a shame that we have to ditch you. I hope whoever might find you will take care of you."

Tony rolled his eyes.

Elias opened his duffel. "I was taught to respect those who help you. She helped us escape multiple times so it's only fair."

"How did the motorcycle become a she in the first place?"

Elias laughed. "Doesn't every guy name things they like after girls? Ships, cars, motorcycles, guitars, and many more."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "Guitars? That's kind of random compared to the rest of them."

"I used to play guitar eons ago. We couldn't afford one of my own so I'd play the school band one or my friend's. I wasn't very good but it doesn't really matter when you're screwing around."

Tony pulled out the rifle. "You want to ditch this? We can always carry it to the border and then toss it if there's no resistance."

"Whatever works. We can just bring one clip since I doubt they'll have a whole army after us, judging by how many of them we've already taken out."

Tony tossed the grenades on the ground. "I thought we might need these but the bombs we found in the house were more useful. We can always bring another sleep bomb just in case. Those are fairly light."

"I was thinking that we might want to get everything into one bag instead of two since we're tossing the larger items."

Tony put a handgun clip in his pocket. "Good idea. Most of it will be food since I don't know where we'll get any later. At least until we get to the village."

"What about that small hotel? Does it not have food?"

Tony put the medical kit in the other duffel. "No idea, I never researched it that far. If it's in the middle of nowhere, then it probably does but who knows how good the food is."

Elias pointed at the medical kit. "Do we really need that anymore?"

"Yes, just in case they get the drop on us and injure one or both of us. It doesn't weigh that much and I feel safer knowing we have something like that in our bag."

**********

The trip through the forest was uneventful, just how Tony liked it. Though he could tell from Elias' tense body language that he was nervous about the border crossing in general.

He'd be lying if he wasn't the same, but he had to keep it together so it wouldn't get out of hand with both of them worrying. Deep down inside, he knew it would be hard and it might just get them killed, even after all they've done so far.

The question mark was what their former leader had planned to capture them. Were they going to be stationed at all of the gaps? Would Tommy be smart enough to keep them further down the line from where Tony was heading to or was Tommy even in power anymore?

It was a possibility that one of them might have squealed Tony's plans and that their leader was just toying with them, waiting for them to show their cards and thereby their downfall.

But that wasn't going to happen, at least Tony hoped it wouldn't.

They'd all agreed a long time ago that no one, even under extreme duress, would reveal Tony's plans for escape. If they did, it would only jeopardize their own escapes later. He knew Henkka and Marko wouldn't dream of fucking that up, but Tommy was always the wildcard in the equation. 

Would he keep up his side of the deal and deflect them away from Tony's spot or would the tension become too much and he ultimately cracks under the pressure?

Either way, Tony was about to find out once they arrived at the border.

********

Tommy watched the field operatives sit around and play with their weapons. "What a good waste of money."

Sorenson rolled his eyes. "Yeah well, it's not like we can predict how fast Kakko is going to go through the forest. They can't do much until they are spotted."

"Fair enough, make sure they're alert for the border patrols that happen frequently. The last thing we need is to start a war with Russia over operatives being stupid."

Sorenson radioed into the team. "Watch out for border patrols. They will shoot on sight if they find any of you nearby. In other words, stop screwing around and pay attention!"

Tommy turned when Phelps called his name. He wandered over to him. "What is it?"

Phelps pointed to the screen.

Tommy read the screen silently, "I assume you knew about the gap to the north and that's where Kakko and Viljanen are trying to cross."

"Yes, that needs to be fixed. We don't want the cameras to go out again."

Phelps typed something else on the screen.

Tommy watched the words type out to say Phelps had found movement in the forest and that it appeared it was twenty minutes away from the location. "Good, keep an eye on the database to make sure others don't try to hack into our systems."

Phelps went back to work.

The leader cocked his head to the side. "What was that about?"

"Just security problems, the usual day to day stuff. Another virus popped up and he's marginalizing it. He wanted to make sure it wasn't something that we were running."

Sorenson blinked. "But he said nothing of the sort."

Tommy laughed. "He doesn't have to say anything. Pointing at the code on the screen is enough for me to know what he's asking. My team is a well-oiled machine at this point. There's no need for useless chitchat, we all know what is to be done."

"Or he's covering up for something. I still don't trust you, Portimo."

Tommy went back to watching the monitor. "That's your problem not mine. I'm here to retrieve Kakko and Viljanen. It's your blunders that have cost us precious time and resources."

Sorenson made a move toward Tommy, but their leader intercepted it.

"Knock it off, Sorenson, or I'll have you eliminated. Is that understood?"

Sorenson backed off. "Yes, sir."

The leader looked between the two men and shook his head.

Something would need to be done about this when Kakko was retrieved.

**********

Tony and Elias leaned against trees to catch their breath. They were about five hundred meters away from the border by the calculations of the GPS Tony held.

Elias slumped to the ground and put the duffel to the side. "We didn't even walk that fast, why the hell am I this winded?"

"Not enough sleep is probably the main culprit. We've slept maybe ten hours in the past several days. Not to mention living off protein bars and junk food isn't helping either. What I wouldn't give for a salad right about now."

"Screw a salad, I want a steak. Nice and juice with a hint of pink."

Tony drank some water and looked to the east. "By my calculations, the border is right outside of this forest area. I don't see anyone nearby, but I still want to be prepared just in case they have rifles or have blackmailed Pasi into completing the job."

"Do you think that's possible? They'd have to know he's friends with Henkka and thereby on your side."

"You never know. For all I know Henkka, Marko and Tommy have been eliminated by others. I don't think so, but I have no way of knowing until later. I'm hoping none of them have been stupid enough to volunteer anything other than the basics."

Elias pointed at the GPS. "Is it possible to widen the range of the display to see if they're further out?"

Tony tapped on the display to pull out the map. He swore under his breath. "Looks like two groups are stationed further south from us. That's probably why they backed off from attacking at the gas station, they received orders from above to head down here."

"If that's the case, then they've been here all day long. That means we have an element of surprise over them. Can you see what type of weapons they have?"

"No, it's not sensitive for that sort of thing, only that they're present."

Elias got up from the ground. "We need to time this just right."

"Indeed, and also waiting until nightfall. Yes, they have night detection gear but they'd have to be looking directly north for them to see us. The biggest thing will be the spotlights. We can see them better at night than during the day."

Elias stroke his chin. "So this is just dodging spotlights? Do they have any patterns?"

"That's what we'll find out tonight. We'll scout it out for twenty minutes to see if there's a pattern. If we're lucky, they'll be on some sort of timer system and always do the same sweeps. The key is to not get caught in the light or risk being shot to death."

"But I thought you said there was a gap?"

"There is, but I meant a literal gap. If you were to exit the forest, you'd see the fence cut in that part. I have no idea who did it, but it's still there from what I can see on the GPS. That being said, we won't trigger the electric fence and pass straight through. Then it's just a matter of dodging the lights and getting away. It's going to be a lot of running depending on if we get seen."

Elias grinned to himself. "I have an idea. What if we caught the attention of the field ops to the south and they started shooting. I can't imagine the Russians wouldn't notice gunfire nearby and point their spotlights on that section."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "That would actually be a good thing. As it is, my jammer only works for sixty seconds and that's only enough to get halfway through the field. The question is would they be dumb enough to shoot at us? They'd have to know that shooting near or into Russia's border is an act of war."

Elias motioned to the south. "These idiots have been picked off one by one since we started this. It's not like they're the best of the best. In fact, I'm counting on them being that dumb so it gives us a better chance to escape."

"That's assuming the Russians don't track us down thanks to the bullets. They have radar too and as I said, I can only jam it for sixty seconds. It would have to happen after it stopped for the Russians to search for the source. Otherwise they'd have to find them blind."

**********

They waited until dusk had set into a dark, cloudy night. With little noise, they crept to the outer edge of the forest within view of the fence.

Elias watched the spotlights for a pattern while Tony kept his eyes on the field operatives to the south for any movement. He turned to Tony. "There's a gap in the spotlights."

Tony glanced up. "Show me."

Elias pointed to the left of the hole in the fence. "Watch that area for a few minutes and you'll see where the two spotlights don't intersect."

Tony watched and then gaped. "What the hell? That's like five-meter gap they're missing."

"Exactly and it seems to continue on, veering a little to the left every time. So if we go to the left a little after the initial one, we can escape without them even knowing."

"Then I guess it's time to do just that. The field operatives to the south are just standing around. As far as I can tell, they're waiting for orders or to see us somewhere."

Elias shouldered the duffel and waited for Tony's signal.

*********

Tommy half listened to Sorenson talk with the field operatives who still hadn't found Tony and Elias. They were debating whether to break apart and go north and further south to find them. He didn't care if they went further south but if they went north they were liable to run into them and that's the last thing Tommy needed.

Marksson frowned at this screen. "I lost the Russian radar feed. It went completely dead."

Sorenson barked at the field operatives. "They're trying to cross!"

The leader moved in closer to the monitors. "Scan the Russian fields near the towers. Use whatever you have to do it. They must not cross into Russia."

Tommy's jaw clenched when Malainen called out that they were inside the fence.

And then a gunshot rang out.

*********


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias hurries to save Tony's life with a mad dash through a dark forest. Will he find unlikely help in the end?

Had Elias not been running beside Tony, he wouldn't have caught him before he fell to the ground. He swore and pulled Tony into his arms to pick him up. The extra weight made it difficult to run away.

Thankfully just as he tried to take a step, all of the spotlights turned toward the forests they'd come from. A thunder of machine gun bullets pelted the area where the field operatives had been.

Elias could care less about them, scared Tony had been killed as he didn't have time to even check.

Tony gasped in his arms, "Fucking assholes, they deserve every bit of what they just got."

Elias silently thanked whatever being was watching over them. He had no idea where the Karelia village was and if Tony died, he'd be stranded in Russia. He got them out of the view of the closest spotlights and tried to dodge any of the back ones as they came his way.

"Just...just a little further and you'll be rid of them. You might as well put me down as it's making you slow."

Elias gritted his teeth and kept moving. "Like you can move by yourself with a shot to the chest."

"You need some glasses, Viljanen. I was shot in the shoulder and I'm pretty sure the bullet went clean through. Told you we'd need that medical kit."

Elias got them to a tree and let Tony back down. "Are you sure about this?"

"I've had several bullets still inside me and managed to walk five kilometers in spite of it. I'm fine. Let's get out of here."

Elias moved away from the tree back into the field. The spotlights had already died down once a few minutes had passed. It was then that Elias realized his whole body was too tense to move.

Tony grabbed Elias by the arm. "I'm fine, calm down. We need to get in that forest in the distance and head south until it ends. That should put us close to the small hotel. No idea if it's open this late but we'll worry about that later."

Elias scoffed at Tony's statement, but inside just tensed up more. He would be stranded if Tony died. He had to get Tony to somewhere safe so they could fix him.

"I mean it, Viljanen, I'm fine."

Elias continued to head for the forest when sirens sounded behind them. He looked over at Tony.

Tony took off for the forest at full speed.

Elias ran after him, trying to get away from the loud sirens. He silently hoped they hadn't tripped some kind of invisible line. That was all they needed right now.

They managed to get into the forest, just as the area lit up with bright spotlights.

*********

Tony gasped for a breath, pushing through the trees to get away from the lights and the shouting. This had not gone according to plan, but what had in his life? He hadn't told Elias that the running had made the bullet wound worse as blood trickled down the front of his shirt. He wasn't going to last for long if he kept losing blood like that, but it's not like they could just stop to repair his shoulder.

Elias grabbed Tony's left arm, which sent a spike of pain down his back. "Let me carry you again. We're going too slowly to evade them."

"Like you'd go any faster carrying me."

Elias picked Tony up from the ground. "We'll see about that."

Even with the extra weight, Elias managed to keep a steady pace away from the Russian voices calling out.

They ducked behind several trees when the lights started to flash again in the forest. Elias picked his moment to dash out without them seeing it.

Eventually, their voices got further and further away and Elias let himself relax a little.

That's when he noticed Tony's eyes were closed.

**********

Elias dropped Tony's body on the ground behind a circle of trees. "Come on, Tony, don't do this to me."

Tony didn't answer him.

Elias felt around on Tony's shirt and swore when he encountered a lot of blood. He rummaged in the duffel to pull out a towel Tony happened to pack, wrapping it around the shoulder and tying it underneath. It wasn't perfect, but it would soak up the blood for a little bit. 

He had no idea how to stitch up injured people nor how to call for help in Russia. Never mind the fact that they were carrying guns and had just crossed the border illegally.

Elias picked Tony's body up to keep moving. He glanced down at the GPS in Tony's hand and kept following the pre-programmed path that hopefully led them out of the woods.

After that, he wasn't sure what was going to happen.

************

Elias didn't know how long he'd been walking, his watch obscured by Tony's body, but the sky was still dark when it peeked through the trees every so often.

The GPS in Tony's hand showed that Elias was near the edge of the forest, but he wasn't sure if it would show him the way to the hotel or not.

As it was, Tony's body was getting very heavy for Elias to carry like this. He couldn't very well drag him so it was really the only way, but his arms protested every step.

Maybe he should rest. Though what if Tony died because of his negligence?

Elias pressed on, silently hoping Tony was still alive with the blood continuing to trickle out onto Elias' clothes. The towel had soaked up most of it but he wasn't sure how long that would last.

The forest finally broke and open land appeared. It was void of anything, no houses, no buildings, nothing other than a few random trees on the outer edges that lead to even more forests.

Elias sighed and looked down at the GPS, hoping it would give him an idea of where to go next. Instead, it popped up with a message asking if it should proceed to the next stop. He shuffled Tony's weight and tapped the screen to confirm it.

It recalculated based on their current position and popped up with a map continuing to head south with the words "small hotel" at the top.

Elias breathed a sigh of relief that Tony had programmed it for future locations. He blinked at the distance of only a kilometer. It must be on the other side of the south forest.

*********

Elias set Tony's body down once they arrived at the small hotel. He pounded on the door and called out, "Please, I need a room!"

The door unlocked to reveal an older woman in a sleeping gown. She spoke something in Russian to Elias and then tried to close the door.

Elias blocked it. "Please, my friend is injured. He's bleeding and I need help."

The woman looked behind Elias at the slumped over form of Tony.

"I'll pay you a thousand Euros."

The woman looked back at Elias with wide eyes.

Elias dug into his pants pocket to produce a thousand Euro note. "Please."

The woman opened the door further and waved at Elias to come in.

Elias went for Tony's body to pick it up again. He shuffled inside the small hallway as the woman closed the door behind them.

She motioned for him to come to the front desk area.

Elias followed, noticing the various paintings of old czars on the walls. All were from a period around the time of the first World War and the battlefield paintings mirrored the same thing. He swallowed hard and wondered if this was a good idea.

The woman picked up the phone to dial a number.

Elias froze, scared she was calling the Russian police. He relaxed a little when she talked calmly on the phone to someone else. If she was truly calling the police, she would be tense and talking in abrupt sentences.

A teenage boy with sandy blond hair wandered into the area and gasped at Tony's body. He pulled Elias' arm to the side.

The woman talked to him in Russian and pointed to the wooden stairway in the distance.

Elias looked down at the boy, who spoke Russian to him. "I don't understand Russian. My friend knows it but I only know Finnish and English."

The boy smiled and spoke in broken English to Elias, "Follow me. We fix him."

Elias nodded and followed him upstairs.

*********

The boy gathered up some water and clean towels before leading Elias to a small bedroom. The walls of it decorated with the same old battle paintings and tapestries. A single queen bed sat in the middle of the room with only a wooden dresser and a bedside table to keep it company.

Elias watched the boy strip off the top blankets and set them aside until he reached the white sheets. "You might want to remove those too. I don't want to ruin them."

The boy smiled at Elias. "It's ok. We wash later."

Elias helped the boy get Tony's body on the bed. He moved out of the way once the boy started to clean Tony's shoulder wound with the clean towels.

The old woman called out from the hallway to say something in Russian to the boy and then went back downstairs.

Elias turned to the boy. "What did she say?"

"Doctor is coming."

Elias winced and wondered if bringing someone else would screw things up further. 

The boy smiled at the reaction. "He's good. Will fix."

"It's not that, I just...I'm worried about my friend."

The boy continued to clean Tony's chest after removing the blood-soaked shirt. "Hunting?"

Elias frowned at the statement. "I don't understand."

"Him hurt hunting?"

Elias wanted to say no but then stopped himself. "Yes, in the forest to the north. I carried him the whole way down here."

"Late for hunting."

Elias flushed. "I got lost in the darkened forests. They're thicker than I'm used to."

The boy chuckled and finished wrapping Tony's shoulder in gauze. "Happens a lot."

Elias watched the boy move away from the bed. "Um, what's your name?"

The boy turned and said, "Nikolai. Yours?"

"My name is Elias." He motioned to the bed. "His name is Caleb."

"Ok. I go clean now."

Elias watched Nikolai leave and let out a sigh of relief. He'd almost said Tony's real name before stopping himself. He sat beside Tony's body and whispered, "Don't die on me, Kakko."

*********

Tony opened his eyes and tried to move. He groaned at the throbbing pain in his shoulder and wondered where the hell he was.

The walls held pictures of battles during what appeared to be the first World War. He was definitely not in Finland anymore and based on the portraits he could make out in the distance of former czars.

He tried to sit up, but his body refused to move. With gritted teeth, he tried anything to change positions, only amounting to flaying around and not getting very far. Though he did hit something to the left of him.

"Caleb?"

Tony frowned at that name. It definitely wasn't his but it sounded familiar and he wasn't sure why.

A sandy-haired boy of maybe fifteen appeared overhead. "Caleb? You hear?"

Tony blinked at the spoken English.

The boy switched to Russian and spoke slowly, "Can you understand me?"

Tony tried to think and responded in Finnish, "Sort of. It's Russian."

The boy went back to English again. "No understand Finnish."

Tony took a deep breath. "Ok, I'll try English. It's been a while."

"You hurt?"

Tony winced. "My shoulder is killing me. I assume someone fixed it?"

"Doctor came. Will bring him back. Not better."

"Probably just need more meds. I'm sure he patched me up just fine. The bullet went clean through. Where is Elias?"

The boy pointed to Tony's left. "Sleeping there."

Tony gritted his teeth, turning his head to see Elias curled up tight. "He's ok?"

"Yes. Doctor check him too."

Tony looked back at the boy. "What's your name?"

"Nikolai."

Tony let his eyes drift closed. "Nice to meet you, Nikolai. Is it possible to get some water? My mouth feels like a desert."

Nikolai nodded, even if Tony couldn't see it. "Will get."

Tony opened his eyes and reached out to touch Elias' arm. "Wake up, sleepyhead."

Elias curled up tighter.

"Viljanen quit screwing around. I need help getting up and that skinny kid won't be able to do it."

Elias kept sleeping.

Tony rolled his eyes and hit Elias' arm harder.

Elias' body jumped a bit. "Fuck you, leave me alone!"

Tony's eyebrow rose at the comment. That didn't sound like it was aimed at him but to someone in Elias' dream. "Hey, it's To...wait, Caleb. You used my other name for them. At least you were still thinking when you got here."

Nikolai entered the room and placed a glass of water on the table beside the bed. "Need help?"

"Yeah, but I don't think you're strong enough for that."

Nikolai pulled Tony up by the side to sit up with little effort. "Better?"

"Well, it looks like you're full of surprises, Nikolai."

Nikolai pointed to their duffel. "You too. Hunting with handguns."

"You went through our bags?"

"Look for ID. Found yours, not his."

Tony reached out to pull the kid close by his shirt. "And you're not going to say a word to the police, right?"

Nikolai pulled back with his hands spread out. "We no trouble. Nice hotel."

"Still, I would hope you'd let us leave without anything else. Did Elias offer you any money?"

Nikolai shook his head. "No idea."

"Well if he did, we'll pay it. I have some rubles in the bag and some Euros as well."

Nikolai smiled. "It's fine. No trouble."

Tony leaned back on the pillow. "You might get some later. Hopefully, we can be on our way soon and then you can go about whatever you were doing before we arrived."

*********

Tony woke up again to find a man in his forties touching over his shoulder. "Who are you?"

The man smiled. "Dr. Markov. I'm the one who patched that up."

Tony tried to look at his shoulder. "Am I going to live, doctor?"

Dr. Markov laughed. "I'd say you have a good shot. The bullet went clean through and judging by the scars on your chest, I'm guessing it's not the first time you've been shot."

Tony's body tensed.

Dr. Markov shook his short graying hair. "Don't worry, we don't want any trouble. I'm just here because of Nikolai's phone call saying you were still hurting."

"It's really tight across my chest. Pretty sure I pulled a muscle or something."

Dr. Markov felt around the upper chest area. "Here?"

Tony winced at the shooting pain.

He rubbed at Tony's sore muscle, releasing it a little. "Some rest will fix this and I'll give you something for the pain as well. You probably jerked it when you were shot at the border."

Tony took a deep breath to calm his elevated emotions. "How did you know about that?"

"I have friends who work at the border. They said several men were shot last night and I'm guessing you were one of them. Though he said they were all on the other side."

Tony didn't respond.

Dr. Markov studied Tony's poker face. "Or maybe it wasn't a Russian who shot you at all? We tend to have machine guns and this was a high-powered rifle shot."

Tony's jaw clenched. "What do you want so you don't share this information with anyone else? I have money on me."

"You misunderstand me, I'm not trying to bribe you just explaining your injury. To be honest you're the one of the first I've seen successfully cross and not get killed. I don't know how you did it, but now you're a wanted man in Russia." He stopped to the motion to Tony and Elias. "I'd like for you two to leave as soon as possible. Not because I'm against Finnish people, but more for the fact that I don't want Nikolai or Natalia to be harmed in the process. Both are very dear to me."

Tony sat up with a grimace. "That's what I was planning on doing. I don't want any innocents harmed with this. They've both risked their lives to help us and I won't forget that. In fact, whatever Elias promised to pay them for staying I'll double it."

"How do you plan to get where you're going to?"

"However I can. Most likely walking south to reach the safe house. Once I can get Elias up, that is. He's sleeping like the dead at the moment."

Dr. Markov glanced over at Elias. "He was pretty distraught over you being shot, so much so that I almost wondered if you two were lovers. Not that it's any of my business."

Tony pushed himself out of bed. "Not likely at this point. He wants me alive so he can best me at fighting. If I die, he doesn't get that chance."

Dr. Markov stared at Tony.

Tony laughed, grabbing his newly cleaned t-shirt with his left hand. "It's a long, complicated story. Suffice to say he wants me to stay alive so I can get him to the safe house. Beyond that, it's up to him. As it is, I plan to lay low and live out the rest of my life in peace."

Dr. Markov got up from the bed. "I doubt that will be the case. They will follow until they find you."

"No, soon they won't find anything."

*********

Elias shook awake, his eyes blurry looking at a head above his face. "What?"

"Get the hell up, Viljanen. There's no time for sleeping in."

"Tony?"

Something hit his arm. "Caleb, dumbass."

Elias flushed and sat up, wincing at his throbbing head. "Ug, how long did I sleep?"

"No idea, but it's time to leave. We have to get to our destination before my GPS dies."

Elias got off the bed. "Why don't we just charge it here for a few hours?"

"No, we need to leave now. I don't want these people killed because we lingered too long in one place. Once we get to our safe house, then it's a matter of finishing the job."

Elias smiled and put his shoes on. "You're getting soft again, Kakko."

"By the way, how much did you say we'll pay if they let us stay?"

Elias winced and finished tying up his boots. "A thousand Euros."

Tony stared at him.

"Before you ream me, I was desperate and she was about to close the door in my face. I said the first thing I could think of at the time."

Tony groaned. "Which means we owe them two thousand Euros since I promised to double the amount."

Elias' eyes widened.

"Whatever, maybe she'll not find out about that part. Either way, we have several thousand Euros on us thanks to the abandoned store. It's enough until I can access my bank account."

Elias grabbed the duffel with a frown on his face.

"It's fine. I'd rather them have enough money to not tell anyone if we were here. Whatever it takes to not make them blab."

*********

Elias followed Tony downstairs to the front desk. He dug into his pants and pulled out two thousand Euros. "Here's what we owe you."

The older woman Natalia balked at the money in front of her and said in broken English, "This wrong."

Tony interjected, "I told the doctor I would double it in order to keep you two safe."

Natalia shoved the money back at Elias. "Room 3200 Rubles."

Elias turned to Tony. "What is that in Euros?"

"No idea." Tony looked at Natalia. "How about just one thousand Euros?"

Natalia shook her head.

Nikolai appeared at her side and spoke in Russian to her. She said something back to him and he pointed at the money on the counter.

Tony started to move away from the front desk. "Whatever you decide is fine with me, but I have to get out of here. Either take the money or don't."

Elias rose an eyebrow at Tony when he shuffled for the front door with the two thousand Euros still on the counter. He went over to Nikolai and said, "Just keep the money. If it keeps you two safe, then it's fine. Just don't tell the authorities about it later. Hide it for a rainy day or something."

Nikolai stared at Elias.

Elias smiled and headed for the front door. "Thank you for saving Caleb and letting us stay here. I won't forget it."

*********

Tony stepped outside and stared at the black truck in front of the hotel.

Elias tried to get back inside, thinking it was the Russian authorities coming for them.

The window rolled down to reveal Dr. Markov. "You might as well get a ride to wherever you're going. It's faster than walking."

Tony shook his head. "I don't want you to know where we're going. It's not that I don't trust you...."

"Obviously you don't trust me, that's a given at this point, but I can at least get you close to your destination. Honestly, I don't want you near the hotel anymore, and if I have to do it myself I will."

Tony glanced over at Elias.

Elias headed for the truck. "If he fucks with us, we can just shoot him."

Tony blinked at the heartless statement coming from Elias. "And now we've reversed roles. How the hell did that happen?"

Elias laughed and got in the back seat of the truck.

Tony got in the front seat, glancing over at Dr. Markov and putting his seatbelt on. "I trust there won't be any funny business along the way. Elias is right, we can easily take you out and steal your truck."

Dr. Markov put the truck into gear. "I don't believe that's necessary. Are you still heading south?"

"Yes, proceed south until I give you the word."

***********

After thirty minutes, Tony had him stop the truck. "Stop over by that forest. We'll be getting out now."

Dr. Markov pulled off to the side. "I could drive you all the way. I don't mind."

Tony undid his seatbelt, opening the door to step outside and responding, "I do. The fewer people who know where the safe house is the better, and quite frankly I don't trust you enough for that. I'm sure you mean well, but years of training have taught me to not trust people who offer services out of the blue. Most of them end up trying to stab you in the back."

Dr. Markov smiled. "Military training?"

"Way more covert than that."

Dr. Markov frowned at the statement and called out, "More covert than military?"

He didn't get his answer as Elias and Tony trekked into the nearby forest without another word.

*********

Tony stood inside the forest near the entrance and waited.

Elias frowned at it and whispered, "What are you waiting for?"

Tony listened for the truck to start back up and drive away. He breathed a sigh of relief before turning back to Elias. "Making sure we're not followed."

"Is this even the right direction to Karelia?"

Tony started walking through the forest. "No, I had him go more east than we need to just to throw him off. Call me paranoid, but I'd rather that than end up dead from deception."

Elias followed him. "I'm all for being cautious, especially in Russia. Who knows what people's motives are here?"

"It's the same everywhere - self-gain. Whether it's for others as he proclaimed earlier or his own, I can't be sure and that's what makes me cautious."

"But does that mean we're hours out of the way now?"

Tony laughed. "Hardly, I'm not that paranoid. We still have a good hour or so walk but it's much shorter than it would be if we had walked from the hotel."

*********

Elias followed Tony through the thick woods, while birds chirped at them along the way. He stopped short when he spotted houses nearby. "We're that close?"

"No, it's not those in the distance. We're beyond this village and into the next one. We can either walk around it or just straight through. What do you think?"

Elias' eyebrow rose. "You're actually asking my opinion?"

"Yes, imagine that. Just answer the damn question."

Elias chuckled. "No idea. How far is it out of our way if we ignore the village?"

"It will add another half kilometer if we go around it. It's not that big of a deal unless you want to check it out."

Elias thought for a moment. "We might as well check it out. It's not like we're going to stop to do anything, just walk through it."

"If that's the case, then we'll have to keep our eyes and ears open to what's around us. Granted it will be in Russian probably but still. Scared eyes and hiding away are a sure sign they recognize us in some form."

**********

Tony's eyebrow rose when he shuffled into the town. It bustled with life around him, despite what it looked like from the outside of people being asleep still. Various people dressed in colorful clothes moved around the stalls of food and goods.

Elias turned to Tony. "Some kind of fair?"

"No idea, just keep moving and stay close. I don't want to lose you in this crowd of people."

Tony turned around when he didn't hear a reply from Elias. His eyebrow rose when he caught a woman dragging Elias away. "Elias?"

Elias wiggled out of the woman's grasp. "I'm not sure who you think I am, but I'm not Russian."

The woman tried to grab Elias again.

Tony intercepted the movement and grabbed the woman's arm. "Knock it off or I'll break it."

The woman frowned at Tony and spoke something in Russian.

Tony replied back in broken Russian, "His name is Elias, not Victor. Hands off him."

The woman replied in Russian, "He's mine, you fool. Go away."

Tony pulled Elias' head down to kiss his lips.

The woman's eyes widened at the display.

Tony finished off the kiss, chuckling at the shocked expression on Elias' face before turning back to the woman. "He's mine."

The woman hurried away from them and Tony laughed at it.

Elias' mouth was moving but nothing was coming out.

Tony dragged Elias along again by the hand. "Come on, let's get out of here before she sends her family on us for being gay."

"I'm not gay."

"Does it matter? She just saw us kissing which is still illegal in Russia for some damn reason."

**********

Elias followed Tony through the rest of the town, touching over his lips and still trying to process that Tony kissed him.

It shouldn't be that surprising since they'd come close to kissing several times, but when it happened it still left him stunned.

Though he had to wonder if Tony only did it to get rid of the woman and not because he really wanted to. 

The kiss itself was short and sweet, a simple brushing of lips and nothing more. And yet, Elias could still feel Tony's lips on his even after it ended. 

Elias rolled his eyes at the inner workings of his mind. He wasn't into guys, and this was just a one-off thing that Tony did to get the woman to go away.

Except Elias could swear Tony enjoyed it. Whether it was making Elias flustered or something more but that devious smile on Tony's face afterward made Elias pause.

Whatever the case, they were almost to their destination. Would it be that easy to just waltz into the house and be done?

Or would someone else interfere with their plans?

*********

An hour later, they were on the outskirts of yet another village. Tony took out his gun and checked the clip.

"What is it? Do you see something wrong?"

"No, just being cautious. I can't imagine we're going to have trouble since I own the house and it's been empty for years. Still, I can't shake the feeling that it's been way too easy to get here without any resistance. It's a little off-putting."

Elias shrugged. "Maybe it's finally time that it goes our way for a change? It would be nice after what we've been through for the last five days."

Tony entered the village and headed to the left around the central well in the middle. He frowned at his GPS when he shuffled closer to a large house on the hill above.

Elias noticed it and said, "What is it?"

"There's men surrounding my house. I don't know why, but there's at least twenty of them around the perimeter."

"Do you think the leader figured out you had another house in Russia?"

"Not a chance. The Russian government doesn't cough up property records that easily and like I said before, breaking into their systems is considered an act of war."

They stopped to hide behind a large shrub that flanked the stone stairs leading up to the house.

Elias whispered to Tony. "What should we do? I can't imagine people wouldn't notice gunfire if we start shooting at the guards."

"I don't understand why they're there at all. Even if they were after us, they wouldn't stand in the open like that."

Elias moved away from Tony. "Well, there's one way to find out - ask one of them."

Tony tried to reach for Elias' arm but it was too late. He watched in horror as Elias waltzed up the stairs to the front door. The eyes of the men in front glared at Elias as he walked closer. Tony kneeled down and aimed his gun at one of them in case they started to shoot at Elias.

Except nothing happened.

Tony looked around the shrub to see Elias coming down the front stairs and out of the gate. He pulled Elias close to him and whispered, "What the hell happened?"

"It's the home of one of their government officials. You have the wrong house, Tony."

Tony looked down at the display and pointed at it. "But it's right there."

"Not quite. Here's where we are and there's where your house is. It's down this path further."

A hint of red covered Tony's face at the realization.

Elias laughed and shoved Tony forward. "Leave it to you to try and take someone else's house before you even find yours."

**********

They stopped in front of a house almost the same size as the government official's house. Except this one wasn't surrounded by men, having an overgrown front yard and broken steps.

Elias frowned at it. "It doesn't look very good."

"Well, it's not like I knew when I'd actually be here. At least the one in Finland was easier to get people to take care of. This one is practically in the woods and most of these people probably don't accept wire transfers as payment."

Elias followed Tony up the broken stone stairs. "Those are going to need to be replaced soon. They're almost dust at this point."

"Yes, make fun of me for having a rundown house. At least it's a hell of a lot better than the one I grew up. That was a dump to say the least."

They stopped at the door. Tony pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. They were about to enter when a man called out behind them.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Tony reached for his gun in his pocket as he turned around. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm coming home."

The man who had close-cropped blond hair blinked at Tony. "Coming home?"

"Yes, this is my home. My name is Caleb Katala."

The man shook his head. "I don't believe you."

Tony held up the front door key. "How would I have this if I didn't own it? Now quit pestering us as it's been a long trip home."

"But...but this house has been empty for years. Where have you been this whole time?"

Elias' eyebrow rose, but he said nothing.

Tony was tempted to pull his gun and just be done with the interloper, but that would alert others and he didn't need that right now. Instead, he snorted at the man. "That's none of your concern. Good day."

Elias looked between the two men after Tony pushed the front door open. He shrugged at the man and went inside.

Both waited by the door to see if the man went for the stairs.

It didn't take long for a knock to sound on the door.

Tony pulled out his gun intent on scaring the man away, but Elias stopped him. He whispered to Elias, "I'm done with this asshole. Time to make him go away."

Elias chuckled and pushed Tony to the side. He opened the door, frowning at the woman standing in front of him. "Um, hello?"

Tony peered around Elias. "What do you want?"

The younger woman who couldn't be more than twenty at most flushed. "Sorry, I was just curious that's all. To be honest, this house has been empty for years and my mom used to clean it for the previous owner. I think he died or something."

Tony snorted, knowing full well how the man died and was the direct cause of it. "And?"

The woman swallowed hard at Tony's penetrating stare. "Well, I was wondering if you needed any help with the upkeep. I'm a good cook and any excuse to get out of the family house is a good one in my mind."

Elias stared at the woman. "You're offering to be a maid?"

"Maid is too formal, how about a housekeeper? I can't imagine it's very clean inside this house. All that dust and mold and stuff."

Elias glanced over at Tony, expecting to see Tony a breath away from blowing his cool. Instead, he saw an amused expression covering Tony's face.

Tony laughed at the woman. "Trust me, you don't want to work for me. I'm too much of a perfectionist to leave my house to someone else to take care of. I can manage it myself, thanks."

He was about to close the door when the girl stepped in the way. "A large house like this? I doubt it. Plus which one of you can actually make Karelian pies?"

Elias' stomach rumbled at the mention of home cooked food.

Tony glared at him. "You're not helping."

"I haven't eaten a home-cooked meal since I was a teenager. It's not my fault it sounds good."

The woman beamed. "See? I can do that and more. I have a place to live so I'd only be here for a few hours and then leave."

Tony rubbed at his beard. "Fine, but you get a week trial period. If you mess up, then you go away and never come back."

The woman grinned and held out her hand to shake on it. "Deal."

Tony looked over at Elias and groaned, "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

**********


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henkka receives a message and attempts to set the plan into motion. Will he be up to the task or will they all die in a ball of flames?

After the woman left, who introduced herself as Tatiana, Tony and Elias went inside the house.

Elias flicked one of the light switches expecting it to be dead. He blinked at the dim light emitting from the fixture. "You have power still?"

"Yeah, that's the only thing I was able to keep going in here. Beyond that, we have nothing else. As it is, I need to put the second plan into motion first." He stopped to crinkle his nose. "Though before that, I need a shower. I smell like sweat and dried blood. It's too bad we didn't get to shower in that hotel."

Elias dropped the duffel on the ground. "Yeah, you are pretty ripe to be honest."

"Look who's talking, Viljanen. You smell like a dog's ass."

Elias gaped at the slight. "What did you say, Kakko?"

Tony chuckled, making his way upstairs. "Are you losing your hearing as well?"

"Come back here and say that to my face."

Tony stood at the top of the stairs. "Come up here and make me."

Elias moved up the stairs to stand in front of Tony. "I seemed to remember that you owe me something for all of this."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "Oh? And what might you want from me?"

Elias grinned and leaned in closer to Tony, brushing against his chest. "I get a shot at beating you. Don't forget that it's still in the back of my mind."

Tony moved in to hover over Elias' lips. "I wouldn't dream of forgetting it, but at least wait until I'm healed and Make shows up to referee it. That way he can kick both of our asses for cheating."

"Wait, Marko is heading for here? How the hell did he get out?"

Tony laughed and moved away from Elias. "That's the second plan and I can't do it until I charge the device first. Now is shower time. Wanna join me, Viljanen?"

Elias backed away from Tony, who wore a devious grin. "I'll pass. Is there just one bathroom?"

"No, there's another in the hallway and probably one downstairs as well. One of the bedrooms is bound to have some towels but I can't promise much after five years. We'll have to pick some stuff up later or make our newest recruit do it for us. She does seem eager to help for some reason."

Elias frowned as Tony walked away. "I don't know if I trust her all that much. I mean, how did she even know we were here?"

"The man from before. He probably told the whole town at this point. At least my alibi is solid for this town since I own this house. Unlike in the last one."

**********

Despite most things covered in a thick layer of dust, Elias managed to find some clean towels buried in the back of a linen closet. There wasn't anything to shower with, so Elias scrubbed his body the best he could with a washcloth. 

He thought back to less than a week ago when he was supposed to kill Tony. Everything had changed on that one night, but had it changed for the better?

As Tony went for the master bedroom with another shower, Elias claimed the bedroom next door. He eyed the dust-covered blanket on top of the bed with disgust. With one swoop, he fished off the upper blankets off and piled them on the floor. He sat down on the still clean white sheet and sighed.

Were they truly safe now? What was this second plan Tony kept hinting about? Would it mean that Marko and maybe Henkka was joining them in this massive house?

Too many questions rolled through Elias' head that he laid back on the bed to stare up at the ceiling. The white paint was starting to crack around the light fixture above his head. The whole place looked like it was about to implode around them, but somehow had stayed around long enough for them to arrive.

Like Tony, he'd grown up poor as well. Their old, rundown house wasn't fit for one person let alone two. This was at least big enough for a very large family and furniture.

Tony's face appeared overhead. "You think too much, Viljanen."

Elias looked into Tony's brown eyes. "And maybe you don't think enough."

Tony laughed. "If only, then my life would be less of a mess. My brain is always thinking and when it's not then I get to experience the voices and fall to my knees. At least that hasn't happened lately. One good thing about being shot, tracked like dogs, and sleeping maybe a few hours at a time."

Elias sat up. "So what now? This place is a dump and it's making me crazy."

"Then find a broom or mop and get to work. I won't stop you. In fact, that was the plan all along anyway. That once everyone was here, we'd fix this house up and live in it."

Elias made a face.

Tony patted Elias on the shoulder. "Or just let our housekeeper handle it. Though it going to take her longer than a week and hopefully she'll tire of us before that."

"If you don't like her, then why did you agree for her to help?"

"I have nothing specific against her, just that I don't know what her motives are. As you know, I'm paranoid and a perfectionist, so I like things to go a certain way. Besides once she catches Marko and Henkka doing it on the couch, she'll run for the hills."

Elias' eyebrows rose.

"They've been dancing around each other for years. It's just a matter of time before they're fucking everywhere for anyone to see. It's not like I care, it means a free show for me."

Elias hunted around the closets for clothes. "I didn't need to hear that."

"Or she'll find us fucking, either way once she sees one of the guys mating with someone else it will be enough for her."

Elias turned back. "In your dreams, Kakko."

Tony winked at Elias. "For now it is."

Elias stared at the doorway Tony had gone through with a stunned expression.

***********

Tony was fiddling with something when Elias found him downstairs.

"What's that?"

Tony turned and laughed at the gaudy flower print shirt Elias was wearing. "Where did you find that awful thing?"

Elias flushed. "It's not like I have a change of clothes on me. It was hanging up in the closest so I put it on."

Tony pointed to Elias' jeans. "Those appear to be a bit small for you."

"Probably, but I wasn't going to go through every closet to find pants. As it is, I'll just wash the other ones and switch. Is there a washing machine here?"

Tony nodded to the door in the distance. "I believe there's one in the basement. There's got to be one down there and probably a drying room as well."

Elias was about to head for it and then stopped short. "Hey, you didn't answer my question from before?"

"Which one would that be?"

Elias pointed at the device in Tony's hand. "What is that?"

"It's a cell phone."

Elias backed away from Tony. "Are you fucking crazy? One call on that and they trace us here."

Tony laughed. "What makes you think I'm going to call someone with it?"

"But it's a cellphone. What else would you do with it?"

Tony fiddled with the buttons. "Well, I plan on sending a text with it. I only need one to set the plan into motion, assuming they're all still alive after the Russian debacle. I hope so because Henkka was a good cook from what I heard while talking with Pasi and we'd be stuck with Miss Overeager."

Elias shook his head. "They can trace texts too. I don't like this, Tony."

"That doesn't matter to me at the moment. This has been the plan since Day 1 and I'm not going to change it now. It's not like I'm sending the text to Tommy for everyone to see. Give me a little credit for that."

Elias frowned. "Then who's it going to?"

Tony smiled and hit the send button.

**********

Marko shuffled into Henkka's domain to stand beside the front table. He was about to call out when Henkka emerged from the back area with several guns. "Going somewhere?"

Henkka rolled his eyes at Marko. "I'm cleaning them, Make, like usual."

"But we haven't had any recent missions. Why bother?"

"It's my job and it's not like I have a lot to do at the moment. What with the whole Tony is missing thing that's happening. Who knew one man could annihilate thirty-five operatives. Tony's a one-man wrecking crew."

Marko's jaw tightened. "Speaking of Tony, any news?"

"Not a thing so far. I can't imagine it would take that long to get to the safe house, assuming he's still alive. From what I've heard from Tommy, the Russians have reported they shot people attempting to cross the border. Maybe they were talking about the operatives tasked with taking out Tony, but there's no way to know unless it comes through."

"So we're just biding our time again. I'm tired of waiting."

Henkka patted Marko on the shoulder. "Poor Make, whatever will he do?"

Marko started to walk away, grumbling about training idiot recruits when he heard something buzz. He stopped short and turned.

By the wide eye stare on Henkka's face, he'd heard it too. Henkka hurried into the back room to dig into one of the bins. He eventually pulled out a small cell phone.

Marko went into the back area. "What is it?"

Henkka showed it to Marko.

Marko gaped at the three dots on the screen.

Henkka swallowed hard. "We need to confer with Tommy about this. I can't just spring it on him without him knowing in advance."

Marko moved out of the area. "I'll do it. You're too obvious at this point."

**********

Marko went into the communications area and frowned.

Marksson happened to notice him while turning to talk to Malainen. "Something I can help you with, sir?"

"I'm looking for Tommy. Is he on a break?"

Marksson motioned to the second floor. "He's meeting with the leader. Not sure how long it's going to take as it's already been an hour."

"Ok, I'll check back later," said Marko, turning around to leave.

"Make?"

Marko stopped short at Tommy appearing in front of him. "Oh, there you are. Marksson said you'd be busy with our leader."

"That's an understatement. After they offed Sorenson for his Russian fuck up, now it's all on me to do the planning, set up, and execution of missions. Like I need more work. Hopefully, they can find someone to replace him in your recruits batch."

Marko shook his head. "Not likely. Forcin is really the only one I'd think to have a decent shot. The rest are more of the follow the leader types."

Tommy went back to looking at the monitors.

Marko chose his words carefully. He didn't want to alert their leader what the plans were, but at the same time let Tommy know it was time. "Actually I wanted to talk to you about something."

Tommy scoffed. "I'm busy Make, come back later."

"It's about one of Henkka's computers. It keeps flashing three dots."

Marko was thankful Tommy's team were not looking directly at their boss when his whole body froze in place. They'd know something was up with that kind of reaction and ask things Tommy didn't want to answer.

Tommy turned around with wide eyes. "Three dots?"

"Yes, that's what he told me. He's busy cleaning gear or he would have come himself. Any ideas on how to fix it?"

Tommy swallowed hard. "I see. Did you know when it started?"

"About five minutes ago. I just happened to be there when it occurred. I figured you'd be able to figure out what was wrong with it."

Tommy thought for a moment and then responded, "Tell Henkka to shut down his computer and then let it sit offline for a few minutes. Then turn it back on and see if that fixes it. If not, come back here in twenty minutes and I'll take a look at it."

"I'll tell him. Thanks for your help."

Tommy turned back around and tried to regain his composure.

Marko smiled and walked away, knowing it would be over soon.

**********

Henkka glanced up when Marko arrived at his worktable. "Where's Tommy?"

Marko smiled. "He was able to fix your problem."

Henkka blinked in confusion. "Problem?"

"Yes, the three dots appearing on your computer. He said to turn it off and then reboot it again after a few minutes. If that didn't fix it, then to come see him in twenty minutes."

Henkka was about to ask what this was all about and then it dawned on him. "Ah, I see. I'll have to try that. Um, thanks for the help."

Marko started to move away. "Not a problem. I hope that helps and let me know if I need to contact Tommy again. I'll be in the workout area if you need me."

**********

Tommy looked up at the clock, tense as a bowstring. They'd been planning this for so long that it shouldn't be that big of a deal and yet he was terrified it might all go wrong in an instant.

Ten minutes had passed since Marko approached him and he hoped Marko got the hint he was trying to convey without giving anything away. His luck Marko would show up again in twenty minutes and ask him to come over to Henkka's domain.

That's the last place he wanted to be, considering that's where everything would go down and he didn't want to be linked to it that fast. It would mean their leader could circumvent it and ruin their hard work.

No, he had to stay in his usual spot for it all to appear as a sudden attack instead of a choreographed event. That way nothing could link him to Henkka's action.

As it is, he wasn't sure what would actually happen. They ran simulations on what might happen but considering they planned this almost five years ago with older stuff it was anyone's guess how it was going to go down. Would it immediately take out the computers or just slowly shut them down?

Tommy looked at the clock again and only a minute had passed since the last time. He needed to stop being so obvious in his clock-watching habits. It was liable to get him into trouble.

"Waiting for something?"

Tommy stopped himself from jumping at the sound of their leader's voice behind him. He had to be calm and collected as he normally was, nothing to give away what they planned.

"Portimo?"

Tommy turned to look at their leader. "Just for a maintenance program to stop running. I wasn't sure if it might cause problems with the communication systems but it doesn't look like it."

The leader's eyebrow rose. "A maintenance program? Why would run one of those now? Don't they usually run during downtimes?"

"Nothing is going on at the moment, so I figured why not? It's been running since I was in the meeting with you. I had my team monitor it while I was gone. It should be finishing up in a few minutes."

Phelps called out from the other terminal. "It's finished now, sir. No problems that I can see."

Tommy smiled at Phelps, thankful he was playing along with the deception without knowing ahead of time. He really wished he could take him when it all went down. "Thanks for the update. Now I don't have to watch the clock and record the time when any problems start."

The leader cocked his head to the side. "You record the time when problems occur?"

"Oh yes, in my log later. I review the events of the day and record it so I can track them. That way if they occur at regular intervals, I can have my team research for probable causes."

"That's a smart idea. Can I have access to that log?"

Tommy turned and went to a free terminal to type out a few commands. "I'm giving you access to it right now. I don't know if anything will make sense since I reference servers and databases but you might get something out of it. I also record maintenance reports and other things my team is working on now. I don't have today's in there, but the rest are logged."

"Thank you, I appreciate it. I'm always interested in what things are going on around me. That way I can help in procuring new gear or fix things that you don't have access to."

Tommy hid the smile that was about to break out on his face. There was nothing he didn't have access to without a little patience. Even locked files from the leader's bosses were accessible to Tommy if he wanted to dig deeper. "I'm happy to help. I just keep it for my own purposes."

The leader was about to walk away when he heard Marksson call out to Tommy. He moved back over to Tommy. "What's wrong?"

Tommy stared at the monitor, which displayed three dots.

Then all hell broke loose.

*********

Henkka shuffled away from his area to listen for Tommy's voice to give away if it was working or not. He waited a few seconds and then heard Tommy dramatically call out to his team in fear. 

With a grin, he went back to his domain. He started to pack up guns and ammunition for the trip. They didn't expect anyone to follow them out, but Henkka didn't feel safe without something just in case.

Marko shuffled back over to Henkka's area. "Something is happening with the monitors. They're all going weird."

"Yeah, they are. I wonder what caused them to be like that. Could Pasi be having problems in the target room?"

Marko grinned at Henkka. "I'll go check on him."

Henkka went back to packing the duffels with gear.

Now it was a matter of waiting for Tommy to do his thing.

*********

Tommy scrambled around his area. "Goddammit, what the hell is going on?"

Marksson winced. "It appears that files are getting systematically deleted from our servers. I think we have a virus."

Tommy swore and went over to Phelps computer. "Can you see anything on your terminal?"

"No, sir. It's sending out all sorts of fake links that I have to weed through to get to the heart of it. By that point, the files will be gone."

Tommy shook his head. "That's not what I want to hear. Work faster!"

Phelps typed into his keyboard a flurry of commands.

The leader leaned forward to see Marksson's terminal. "What kind of files are they?"

"At the moment, it's mission logs and system inventory. It looks like it will eventually go for the personal records and operative statuses. The problem is I don't know whether it's copying them somewhere else or just outright deleting them from our database."

Tommy shook his head. "We have to save the data. Maybe I can beam what we have left to a satellite server and then if ours gets wiped out, it will save it for us."

He hit the button to send to the satellite when Phelps called out behind him. "No, sir don't do that!"

Tommy froze and turned. "What is it?"

Phelps winced. "It's now moving through the satellite and deleting it from there too. We need to stop the connection from ours to it."

Tommy swore and patted on Marksson and Malainen's chair. "You two need to come with me. I need you both logged into the server room to help me stop this from spreading."

Phelps frowned at the statement but stayed at his workstation.

Tommy moved away with the two men, stopping at Phelps' station and saying, "I need you to eliminate this from our servers. I'm going to try to disable the link, but if it doesn't work then you're my backup on it." He stopped to type something into Phelps' computer. "That should give you more access to other databases in order to find it and kill it."

Phelps stared at the message Tommy had typed on his monitor that read, "I'm initiating the ten minute self-destruct. Get out if you can!" He swallowed hard and closed the message. "Right, I understand sir. I hope I don't mess up too much."

Tommy patted Phelps on the shoulder. "I know you won't. Now get to work at killing it."

**********

Henkka moved away from the communications area once he heard Tommy was heading to the server room. It would only be a matter of time before Tommy triggered the silent self-destruct sequence.

He grabbed the packed bags and headed for Marko's domain.

Marko was in the process of dropping duffel bags in the workout area along with Pasi.

Pasi glanced up when Henkka approached. "Has he done it yet?"

"He's headed for the server room now. It's only a matter of time before the self-destruct starts. If I remember straight, I think it's a ten-minute countdown."

Pasi grimaced. "A silent countdown though. We might as well head for the van right now."

Marko shouldered a few of the bags. "Then let's get the fuck out of here."

They walked forward only to run into Forcin, who gaped at them.

Marko dropped the duffels and went over to him. "You were a good student, one of my favorites. That being said, get the fuck out of the building right now. It's set to self-destruct in ten minutes."

Forcin's eyes widened.

Marko pointed to the hallway further down. "There should be two vans in the garage. Take the one further away from the entrance. The keys should be in it already as no one would be stupid enough to steal it with all of the cameras on them."

Forcin pointed to the camera above them. "What about that one?"

Henkka laughed. "All of the cameras are dead at the moment. As is everything else inside, hence why we can do this in plain sight of everyone."

Forcin shook his head. "They'll find you. There's no way out of this place except for dying."

Marko gripped Forcin's shoulder tight. "There is a way out if you have friends in high places like we do. The records on everyone are being destroyed as I tell you this. They won't find you nor even know you were even in this place."

Forcin blinked. "Really?"

"Really, now get the fuck out of here!"

Forcin hurried to the crew quarters and then stopped short. "Thanks, sir."

Marko smiled at him and shouldered the duffels again. "No thanks needed, Forcin."

After watching him leave, they headed for the hallway.

**********

Tommy headed for the server room, going inside with Marksson and Malainen. He turned around as they shut the door. "Ok, here's the deal. We're not going to do a damn thing about the virus eating away at our personal records. What we are going to do is set a silent self-destruct and blow this building sky high."

Marksson stared at Tommy. "You're going to kill everyone?"

"It's the only way to make sure our leader goes down before he figures it out. I've alerted the team members I care about but I can't save everyone at once. I'm sorry."

Marksson motioned to himself and Malainen. "So you're going to kill us after you do the self-destruct?"

Tommy smiled. "No, you two are my favorites along with Phelps who I've already told about this. I'm giving you the chance to escape with me and rid of this place forever. You can refuse and that's your choice, but you will be killed if you stay here beyond the ten-minute countdown."

Malainen frowned. "And if we try to stop you?"

Tommy reached down and pulled out a gun. "I don't think you want to do that. In fact, I'm pretty sure that both of you would rather be causing havoc on the internet than monitoring operatives getting raped and tortured all in the name of our leader's will. You haven't been here as long as I have, but I can see the repulsion on your faces when that happens. I'm giving you the chance to be free of it."

Marksson glanced over at Malainen. "What do you think? Wanna be free of this place?"

"Yeah, I do. Fuck this place."

Tommy smiled, reaching for the computer and loading the email program. "Once I hit the send button, it will start the silent countdown. If you have anything of importance in your rooms, tell me now and we can swing by them before we leave."

Marksson shook his head. "I have nothing in mine." He turned to Malainen. "What about you?"

"No, I got nothing either. In fact, we don't even have money to our names. How are we going to survive out there?"

Tommy hit send and the countdown flashed on the computer terminal. It started counting down from ten minutes. "Don't worry about that, we've got a place to live and a way to get money as well. This has been in the making for five years now."

Marksson turned to Malainen, holding out his hand and biting his lip. "Ready to leave this place?"

Malainen looked down at it and flushed. He looked back up at Marksson with a surprised expression.

Marksson grinned, taking Malainen's hand. "Come on, we gotta go."

**********

Marko and Henkka stood at the entrance to the garage hallway, waiting for Tommy to arrive. They wanted to make sure Tommy wasn't left defenseless without a gun. Both had armed themselves and ready for anything that would come up.

Henkka made a face when he noticed Tommy coming for them with two others in tow. "What the hell is that?"

Marko chuckled. "Tommy's bleeding heart. I knew he'd try to save one of his men, but apparently he went for two. The house holds ten so it's not like we don't have the room for them."

Tommy approached them and noticed Henkka's face. "Don't give me that look, Klingenberg. If you actually had a damn team you'd try to save some too."

Henkka rolled his eyes and started to walk down the hall. "Whatever you say, Portimo."

Tommy was about to follow when someone called out. He turned back and snorted. "Of course."

Samson shuffled forward. "I know what you're doing and I won't let it happen." He pulled out a gun and aimed at them.

Tommy turned to glance at Henkka. "Nice job keeping your gear out other's hands."

Marko waited until Samson was looking at Tommy with an annoyed face before making his move.

Samson turned back to see Marko barreling at him. He fumbled with the gun and tried to aim at Marko. He didn't get the chance and slammed into the concrete ground, smacking it hard and making his head scream out in agony.

Marko got up and stepped on Samson's ankles, cracking the bones under his solid weight. "There's no point in killing you as that would be too easy. Instead, I'm going to make you watch your own death and not be able to do a damn thing about it."

Henkka's eyebrow rose. "Isn't that a little extreme? What did he do to you? I mean, he's a pain in everyone's ass but I just ignore him."

Marko stomped down on Samson's fingers. "The fucker was terrorizing Tony early on. I knew because I caught him but I couldn't do anything about it. Tony wouldn't admit as much and since he's not here, I'm doing it on his behalf."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "We don't have time for this bullshit, Make, the place is about to blow!"

Marko finished smashing Samson's other hand before moving away. "I'm done. Get going for the van."

Samson gasped for a breath and said, "You'll never get away with this. The leader will find you."

Marko turned to stare down at Samson. "Yeah? Well if he does, I'll be the one to break his neck."

***********

They hurried down the tunnel to the van. Pasi was waiting for them beside it. He hopped into the driver's seat and revved the engine.

As they were getting inside, someone called out for them to wait.

Marko frowned and said, "Phelps? Tommy, did you bring another damn person from your team?"

Tommy got out and pointed for the other van. "We don't have room in this one. Go to the other one. The keys are in there."

Phelps nodded. "See you, sir."

Tommy smiled at him. "I'm not your boss anymore. You can call me Tommy."

Phelps chuckled and headed for the other van. He called out before getting in, "I don't think I can do that, sir!"

Marko rolled his eyes, muttering about bleeding hearts and getting inside.

Pasi stepped on the gas and drove out of the garage.

The building exploded, taking everyone else inside out, a few minutes later.

It was over.

***********


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Elias come to a head and decide something that might impact both of their lives. Will they be safe or will someone else ruin that forever?

Tony was downstairs watching Elias sweep up the kitchen when the phone buzzed. He picked it up and grinned at the display. "We are now officially erased from every government record."

Elias stopped sweeping. "We are? How the hell did that happen?"

"You can thank Henkka, myself, and Tommy for that. Tommy and I chipped in to create the program and Henkka was the one who executed it. They're on their way here as I speak."

Elias shook his head. "It can't be that easy. What if someone saw them leave?"

"The program disables all systems as it erases each file. It goes for the easy stuff first like missions and then does the personal stuff. Tommy would be the one who linked it up to every single satellite, who in turn infected every government database connected to those satellites. Goodbye information in a matter of minutes."

"Whoa, you mean we're not wanted anymore?"

Tony set the phone down. "It would appear so. Though keep on your guard just in case the Russian government is behind the times with server links. I doubt it in this day and age, even if this country is mostly poor."

Elias went back to sweeping until there was a knock on the door. He glanced over at Tony, who was readying a gun before heading to it. With a sigh, he opened the door and blinked at Tatiana who was carrying two large bags. "Um, what is it?"

Tatiana shoved past Elias to head for the kitchen.

Tony pocketed the gun. "You can't just barge in here, even if you're on a trial period. What if we were fucking?"

Tatiana turned with a raised eyebrow. "And still able to open the door? That's quite a feat."

Tony grinned. "Never underestimate my talents. It might just get you killed because of it."

Tatiana started to unload the bags. "Not much of a threat to be honest. We live under oppressive Russian rule. What is the difference?"

Elias stared at her. "You do? They seem to ignore your area for the most part. Hell, Finland would love to take you back if they got the shot."

"Eh, when you don't have much money it feels oppressive, even if it's not. Such is the life in this village."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "I assume you think you'll be paid for this?"

Tatiana turned around. "That would be nice, but I'm not expecting it. Really, it's a way to practice my Finnish. My family speaks mostly Russian at home."

Elias frowned. "Is this village mostly Russian speaking?"

"For the most part, but there are Finnish areas. You can tell by the dual language signs. If it's all in Russian, then they don't unless it's basic English."

Elias glanced over at Tony. "You told me it was a Finnish speaking village."

"It was five years ago. Maybe it changed over time. I haven't had the time to watch it every second of every day. Either way, we have her to speak for us if it comes to that. I believe Henkka and Pasi know some Russian as well. They definitely know Swedish but that won't help us here."

Tatiana cocked her head to the side. "Who is Henkka and Pasi?"

Tony smiled. "Others who are joining us here soon. In fact, unless someone grabbed another person it will be a total of six people here."

Tatiana clapped her hands together. "Oh, I get to make large meals. I can't wait!"

Tony laughed at her enthusiasm. "You say that now, but you'll grow tired of those guys in time. They can be pains in the ass if they want to."

Elias scoffed. "That's only Tony, the rest are down to earth guys. Well, three of them are at least. I don't think Tommy likes me all that much."

"He only hated you because you undermined his authority. Now that he's not under pressure from our former leader, he'll mellow out when it comes to you or you'll duke it out for supremacy. Either way, I get a show and Marko has something to do while he relaxes."

Elias went back to sweeping, mumbling under his breath.

Tony laughed and returned to reading his book, while Tatiana washed the counters.

**********

The van stopped on the side of the road and they all got out to watch the large fireball that was their former base.

Marko sighed at it. "You know, I expected something more relieving from this but we still need to cross the border."

Henkka turned to Marko, grabbing his head to pull down for a kiss.

Tommy laughed at the display. "It's about fucking time. They've been dancing around it for years."

Pasi chuckled. "They've done that before this, but only on Henkka's first missions. After they assigned Make to training duty, it stopped cold because of the cameras. One of the advantages of doing it in the van is there are no cameras inside it. It's kind of odd when you think about where other cameras are inside that building."

Marksson shivered. "They had cameras in the fucking bathrooms. I happened to notice the pinprick of light while taking a shit one time. Never used that stall again."

Tommy nodded. "And that asshole Samson watched every moment of it. I still think Make's actions were over the top, but the idea of never having to deal with that creepy man again is a good thing."

Marko broke the kiss and gasped for a breath. "Shit, that's been a long time."

Henkka held onto Marko. "Almost five fucking years."

Pasi motioned to the van. "We might as well keep going. By the way, Tommy did you get the passports done before this happened?"

Tommy dug into his bag and pulled them out. "Yes, they were in the hidden bag Marko grabbed from my room. I have one for all of us. Since the records have now been obliterated, all that's left is our original ones with a few tweaks."

Marksson took his passport and opened it to see his somber face looking back at him. "What kind of tweaks?"

"Our prison records or in yours and Malainen's case juvenile records have been scrubbed. All they have on file is that we lived in the last place of residence and maybe some work history depending on the person. I also have one for Elias, who doesn't have one at the moment."

Malainen frowned. "But where are we going to? Further into Finland?"

Tommy headed back to the van. "Russia, specifically Karelia. Mostly because that's where Tony happened to procure a house from a dead man."

Malainen gaped. "A dead man?"

Marko laughed at Malainen. "Yes, a dead terrorist hanging out there. Kind of an odd place to hang out, but the house was in good shape when Tony grabbed it. No idea what it's like now."

**********

They spent the next several days cleaning the house in time for the others to arrive. Tony had no idea when they would arrive but it he figured it would take at least a week to drive to a legal Russian border and then try to cross. Then another day to drive to the correct part of Karelia.

Tony helped with the downstairs living room, vacuuming up the dust bunnies the size of small dogs and removed the sheets over the furniture once he healed up enough. He eyed the tacky furniture with distaste but it was free so he left it alone. If they had to, they could dump them somewhere else later.

Elias and Tatiana were upstairs getting the rooms ready. He took the right side of the hallway making sure she didn't touch Tony and Elias' rooms, while she did the opposite side. He emptied out the closets of moldy or just plain ugly clothes and tossed them into a pile. They would donate them to someone or just toss it out.

Tatiana wandered into the room Elias happened to be cleaning and said, "What the hell is this for?"

Elias glanced up and gaped. He hurried over to her and took it out of her hands with care. "It's a bomb, well one without a detonator. That figures he'd have something like this still left. Tony told me it was a former terrorist who owned this house before."

Tatiana backed away from Elias. "A terrorist? Are you kidding with me?"

"Sadly, I'm not. It was before I knew Tony, but I know he wouldn't make up something like that. At least the guy is dead now so that's a good thing."

Tatiana shook her head. "My mother worked for a terrorist. I can't believe this, he seemed like a nice man when I met him as a young kid."

Elias chuckled and set the bomb down on the nightstand. "Looks can be deceiving. Especially with Tony and I. We're not terrorists but we've done some things that we're not proud of, not that we had a choice at the time. Still, I don't miss those times at all."

"That would explain your jumpiness when I come around. You don't trust anyone yet."

Elias went back to stripping off the dirty blankets from the bed. "I've never trusted anyone really. I mean, I guess I trust Tony to a point, but that's about it. It was a matter of living or dying and at one point I didn't care which happened."

Tatiana smiled. "I know that feeling very well. Though I believe you trust Tony with your life based on the way you look at him. I thought you two were lovers when I first met you."

Elias turned bright red.

A chuckled sounded from the doorway. "Only in my dreams so far. Come on let's have some lunch. We've been working for hours."

Tatiana moved out of the room to head downstairs. "I'll whip up some sandwiches and soup."

Elias glanced up at Tony. "Do you really dream about us together?"

Tony laughed at Elias and left him pondering the answer alone.

*********

That night Tony stepped out of the shower and sighed. There was still some more bedrooms to clean and then the basement. It was so much work just to clean it, never mind the fixing up parts like painting and stonework.

Tony groaned and laid down on his bed to look up at the ceiling. At least his room was freshly cleaned thanks to Elias' hard work. He bit his lip, trying to avoid picturing Elias laying in Tony's bed.

He hadn't planned on Elias even wanting to stay, let alone falling for him. The only reason he had Elias at all in the plan was to prevent Tony from dying along the way. It had gone according to plan and yet Tony couldn't help realizing the more he was around Elias the more he wanted him.

It wasn't mutual at this point and Tony wondered if it would ever be. Sometimes he could almost see the look of lust in Elias' eyes and other times it was annoyance. He wasn't sure what to do about it, and forcing Elias to love him was out of the question. He wanted it mutual or not at all.

Tony got up from the bed to pad over to Elias' room next door. He stood at the doorway only to find it empty.

He went for the bathroom down the hall, thinking maybe Elias was taking a shower.

The bathroom was empty as well.

Tony headed downstairs. He couldn't imagine Elias was still up cleaning. 

Instead, he found Elias looking out a window and frowning.

Tony sat next to him on the couch. "You should sleep, Elias. We still have stuff to do tomorrow."

"I can't sleep. I don't even know why I'm here at all. I should have just said no to your proposal and escaped."

"You're here because you decided to follow me to Karelia. I said a long time ago that we could split up after crossing the border. Granted if we had, I wouldn't even be here right now. I'd be dead in some forest bleeding to death."

Elias bit his lip. "I should have left you to die. Then it wouldn't be this confusing."

Tony winced at the cutting remark and touched Elias' arm. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm glad you didn't. It didn't just mean me not getting here, it meant that they couldn't get here either. You did more than you realize."

Elias turned to look into Tony's eyes. "If I were to leave tonight, what would you do?"

Tony sat back on the couch and swallowed hard. "I'd rather you didn't, but I can't stop you from finding your own path. If you want to leave, then you don't need my permission to do it. It's not like you're tied to me."

Elias stared forward into the room. "Yet I can't because I am tied to you. I saved your life, hell I carried you for kilometers to get to the hotel. I bribed some caretaker to let us stay the night."

"Yes, you did and I'm thankful, but that still doesn't mean you owe me anything for it. It actually means that I owe you."

Elias played with his hands. "I hated you for so long, so much so that it drove me on for the chance to best you in every way. It was all I could think of for months."

Tony relished in Elias thinking about him but didn't interrupt Elias' stream of words.

"But then I was tasked with spying on you. I couldn't wait to dig up some dirt on you, to use it against you later. Except all I found was someone grappling with their life and slowly losing their grip on everything. I wanted to kick your smug ass and yet I couldn't after knowing that."

Tony chuckled. "I'm sure I deserved it for the things I pulled with you. It was only to gain some of your trust, enough that you didn't end up stabbing me in the back later."

"And then we started talking on this mission it made it even worse. We're so much alike it's uncanny. Both grew up with only one parent, both killed our remaining parent for something they did to us, both served time and were raped or abused in prison. The only difference is you became almost a robot at times and I failed to push my emotions to the side."

"It's the reason I chose you in the first place. I figured having someone who was targeted in prison like I was meant I could maybe bond with that person and have them help me get out. I didn't know about your father until after the first mission when you reacted to my comment about not learning how to do ties from your father. Once I learned that I knew I'd chose correctly."

Elias leaned back on the couch. "I need to get away from you, Tony. All it leads to is confusion and hesitation."

Tony's eyes drifted shut at the idea of Elias leaving him. He half wondered if it would happen eventually, just not this soon. With all his might, he tried to cover over the emotions pouring through his voice. "I see. If that's what you truly want, then you're free to leave."

Elias looked at Tony's closed eyes. "What I truly want is you, and that's the problem."

"Good fucking god, Viljanen, just kiss him so we're not left freezing outside!"

Tony laughed and got up from the couch. He opened the front door. "How long have you been standing there, Tommy?"

Tommy shuffled in. "Long enough to hear him fucking about and not listening to his heart for once. If hardheaded Make can get together was no-nonsense Henkka anything is possible."

The rest followed Tommy inside the house to stand at the doorway.

Tony pointed at Marksson and Malainen. "Explain to me why there's two of your crew with you?"

Marko laughed behind them. "Tommy's bleeding heart. He also managed to get Phelps out as well but he went into another van."

Tony rolled his eyes at Tommy. "Why the hell did you choose these two anyway? I mean, yes you worked with them for a year but still. Why these two?"

Tommy smiled and patted them both on the shoulders. "A soft spot for teenage hackers I guess. Plus they're totally into each other so there's some free entertainment for you."

Marksson turned to gape at Tommy. "You knew?"

Tommy scoffed. "Of course I did. It's all of those same little looks that Henkka and Marko do to each other. You can't hide fondness."

Malainen turned bright red.

Tommy glanced over at frowning Elias. "Anyway, we're going to head to bed. It's been a long trip here."

Tony winced. "About that. We didn't get all of the rooms cleaned so two of you will have to bunk together."

Marksson grinned wide. "I don't mind that."

*********

Tony waited until they'd all gone upstairs before going over to stand in front of Elias. "Look, if you want to leave then I can't stop you. Personally I'd rather you stayed, but those are my own selfish reasons."

Elias got up off the couch. "Maybe I should just sleep on it."

Tony nodded but didn't move out of the way. "Probably a good idea."

"Good night, Tony."

Tony bit his lip as Elias walked away. "Night."

Several groans sounded upstairs with Marko chastising Elias for not kissing Tony when he had the chance. Elias didn't offer a response that Tony heard, but it didn't matter at this point.

He was pretty sure Elias would be gone when he woke up tomorrow morning.

*********

Tony groaned when a hand shook him awake and mumbled, "Leave me alone, Elias."

"Viljanen is gone."

Tony opened his eyes to look up at Marko. "Gone?"

"Yes, he probably left earlier this morning. We need to find him before he does something stupid to jeopardize our freedom."

Tony sat up in bed, letting the blankets pool at his waist. "No, we don't. He wanted to leave and I said he could. I had a feeling he would do it last night and I guess he proved me right finally."

Marko sat on the side of the bed. "I don't give a damn about that, Tony. I care about our freedom and not having to go back to prison or worse under our former leader's thumb again."

"He won't do that as it would jeopardize his own freedom. I want to just let him be and work out what he needs to work out." Tony's face scrunched up. "Though I could do without the unbearable pain in my chest. I foolishly believed that maybe he would feel the same way I felt for him. I have a habit of doing that."

Marko was about to protest further until he saw the tears in Tony's eyes. Instead, he pulled Tony's into his arms and mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"For what? Being concerned about your life? I would be too if I were in your position. All I can hope is that maybe he'll come back. I mean, it's not like he has a ton of money on him. I just hope he doesn't kill himself or anything that drastic, but who knows at this point."

A snort came from the doorway. "What the hell is this?"

Tony wiggled out of Marko's arms, brushing away the tears with the back of his hand. "Relax, I have no designs on your man. Marko is too brutish for me."

Marko got up from the bed to approach Henkka. "Tony says to not search for Elias, that he knew Elias would leave."

"Fine, but answer me this - who the hell is this young woman standing in our kitchen cooking breakfast?"

Tony smiled and got up from the bed. "That would be our housekeeper Tatiana. She, um, well forced her services on us. I checked her out and she's clean. Apparently, she liked the original owner of this house, despite not knowing he was a terrorist. Either way, her trial period is up today so we can all decide if we want to keep her or not. I haven't paid her yet."

Marko's stomach grumbled. "What kind of food does she make?"

"Pretty much anything you want. I believe today is pancake day."

Marko pushed past Henkka on his way downstairs, muttering about pancakes the whole way.

Henkka frowned at Tony. "You loved him, didn't you?"

Tony's eyebrow rose. "Make? No, he's a dear friend, even if he annoys me like no other."

"You know who I mean, Tony."

Tony started to get dressed. "I don't want to talk about that. What's done is done."

**********

Tatiana stared at the gathering of men surrounding the kitchen table. "It seems you've tripled in size."

Tony flushed. "They arrived last night. I told you before that we'd get more people."

"Yes, but this isn't six people. This is seven." She looked around the room. "Or make that eight. Where is Elias?"

Tony winced. "He's not here anymore. I believe he left before you arrived."

Tatiana frowned at Tony. "You made him leave?"

"No, he chose to. I wanted him to stay...and he ended up leaving."

Tatiana went back to making pancakes. "Stupid man, he liked you a lot."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Can we stop talking about Viljanen? He ran away like a coward because he was too ashamed to admit he was in love with Tony. I mean, Tony's not easy to deal with as all of us know, but walking out on him was the last straw with me." He turned to Tony. "You're better off without wishy-washy people in your life."

Marko scoffed. "Says the guy who has never been in a relationship. It takes two to make a relationship and Viljanen was unable to hold up his side of the deal. Whether it was shame or not, either way he's gone. One less mouth to feed, Tatiana."

Tatiana rose an eyebrow at Marko. "Maybe so, but I liked Elias. He was nice to me and always amusing around Tony. He'd act all flustered, but I knew he was trying to pretend it didn't matter. It did and even Tony knows that."

Tony stared down at the table. "Tommy's right, Elias is gone and there's nothing we can do about it. This discussion ends now."

Marksson spoke up. "So what's to be done with the remaining rooms? Will they just be storage space?"

"I guess so. We still need to clean them before we do. We also have the basement to do as well. Also, to be honest the walls could use a good coat of paint. My bedroom surely does."

Marko pulled the napkin off the table to put on his lap. "Mine does as well. What we could do is paint the rooms while we swap rooms until the painting is finished. All of the rooms have beds in them and they'll all be clean as well."

Henkka looked at Tatiana. "Where can we get some painting supplies?"

Tatiana served up some pancakes. "There's a paint store in the far corner of the village. Though we'd need a lot of it if we plan on doing the whole house."

"What about any of the bigger towns nearby?"

"They would have it as well. Though I'd need to come with you in order to translate."

Tony noticed Henkka's frown. "It's mostly Russian in this area. It used to be a lot of Finnish but apparently that's changed."

Henkka stroked his beard. "Actually, maybe we don't have to take her along. At least for the understanding part. I still have the translation earpieces that we created for missions."

Marko shook his head. "But that won't help us talk back to them."

Pasi cocked his head to the side. "Can we modify a device to do that? Like some kind of handheld thing that we can have translate what we want to say?"

Tatiana looked between them. "Why do you not want me to be there? I won't say anything bad."

Tony smiled at her. "It's a force of habit for us. We trust no one most times. It's actually miraculous that we trust each other at this point."

**********

Three months later the house was finished. All of the bedrooms upstairs had a fresh coat of paint and the downstairs did as well. Henkka had transformed the garden in the back and front into a colorful pathway to admire. Even the locals would come by and snap pictures of it or look at it from afar.

The only place inside left untouched was Elias' room. They hadn't bothered to repaint it, fearing that Tony would get angry with them. A few of them caught Tony going into it on occasion and sleeping in the bed.

Marko knew Tony was missing Elias and tried to distract him with projects around the house. That is until there was nothing left to do.

Then Tony would wander around the garden, sitting at the stone bench they'd acquired from a local artisan and stare into the distance.

They were at a loss as to what to do with Tony to make him happy. They were used to him not showing emotions, but this constant sadness wore on them in ways they couldn't comprehend.

Naturally, Tatiana wanted to help as well. She dragged Tony outside to local events like the village anniversary today.

Tony looked around the craft booths, not really in search of anything specific just to pass the time. He stopped short when he saw a small painting of a long-haired man.

The older woman smiled and said in Finnish to him, "You like that? It was done by my daughter and the subject is my son-in-law."

Tony took the painting from the woman's hands and stared down at it. The face was a spitting image of Elias other than the nose. Same long brown hair forming the face and the same warm brown eyes staring back. He'd tried so hard to forget Elias and for a while it worked, but this just brought it all back.

The woman frowned at his sad face. "Is there something wrong with it?"

Tony handed it back to her. "No, it's a beautiful painting. It just reminds me of someone from my past. Well, other than the nose."

The woman smiled at Tony. "A friend?"

"Not really, just someone I was fond of. Thanks for letting me look at it."

The woman was about to ask further about it but Tony had already drifted away from the table.

Tony wandered around until he was near the local pub that had Marko, Tommy, Henkka, and Pasi by it while Tatiana chastised them for drinking too much. He smiled at them, knowing that he had a very weird mix of friends.

It was then that something stuck him in the middle of his back. He tried to turn around but it pushed harder. Tony turned his head and swore at the redhead behind him. "How the fuck did you survive?"

"That doesn't matter right now. I'm taking you back."

Tony scoffed. "You really think you can keep me like this? I'm one of the best fighters you've ever had."

The leader jammed the gun into Tony's lower spine. "Not even you can dodge a gun in this location. It's one of the few places that you can't. Now move back slowly before I cripple you forever."

Tony's jaw clenched as he moved back from the pub.

Marko happened to glance up when Tony shuffled away. "Tony? What's wrong?"

Tony mouthed, "Leader."

Marko's hands tightened at his sides and he turned to say to the others, "Looks like our asshole leader survived."

Henkka jumped out of his seat to follow Marko. "How the hell is that possible?"

Pasi pulled out a handgun from his pocket. "Just give me the word, Make, and I'll take him out."

Tommy glanced around the area and said, "We can't shoot someone in the middle of a festival. The local authorities will arrest us and not to mention the Russian diplomat is attending this and his armed men are all around us."

Marko advanced on Tony. "You really think you can take him away that easily?"

The leader's head popped out from behind Tony. "Yes, I can. None of you can make a move because it will let everyone know you're wanted criminals."

Tatiana frowned at that statement. "They are?"

Tommy turned to her. "We used to be, but not anymore. Most of us were forced into killing others thanks to that asshole, who is now holding Tony hostage."

Marko pointed at the leader. "He's guilty of murdering thousands for his own gain. In fact, he had Elias draw up a mission to kill Tony because he could."

Tatiana scoffed. "That's a stupid idea. Elias would never kill Tony. He loves him too much."

The leader eyed the area around them. "Where is Viljanen?"

Tony winced at the use of Elias' name. "He left several months ago. I don't know where he is anymore."

The leader laughed. "He abandoned you like I figured he would do. Not even he can care about a pathetic loser like yourself."

Anger coursed through Tony's veins.

"Don't even think about it, Kakko, I'll put you in a wheelchair with one shot."

Pasi aimed the gun at the leader's head. "I have the shot, Marko. I can make it before he shoots Tony."

The leader shook his head. "Put that gun down, Kauppinen, or I'll scream out for the authorities that you have one."

Marko turned back to Pasi. "Lower your gun, Pasi. I don't want anyone to see it and get the wrong idea."

Tony continued to back away as they shuffled forward to keep him in sight.

Tommy's eyebrow rose at something in the distance. He went over to Pasi and whispered into his ear. Pasi looked out to the area Tommy motioned to and gaped.

Marko's eyes were on Tony the whole time to make sure the leader didn't just kill Tony in front of them. "I'm going to keep following you so there's no point in keeping this charade going."

"Or I can just shoot you when I get to my van? Following me will only lead to your own death."

Henkka moved forward after Pasi whispered into his ear. "Uh, Make? I need to talk to you about something."

Marko didn't acknowledge it, his eyes still on Tony.

Henkka tried to grab Marko's arm but he sidestepped it. "Marko, I'm serious. I need to tell you something."

Tony moved several steps and was finally clear of the main part of the festival. People weren't around them anymore. Tony turned his head and spit out, "I'm going to break your fucking neck as soon as you remove that gun."

The leader jabbed the gun harder into Tony's spine. "You're all talk, Kakko, and no action. I dare you to try anything. You may be able to get away with stuff on lesser operatives but I have twenty years of military training."

Henkka rushed forward and pulled Marko back. "Make, listen to me!"

Tommy and Pasi moved back from the gathering, hiding Tatiana behind them. She protested loudly, but they ignored her.

Henkka was about to whisper into Marko's ear when a gunshot rang out.

***********

Tony froze, sure that he was good as paralyzed from a gunshot to the lower spine.

Except he felt nothing at all in that area.

Tony glanced back to see the leader's mouth gaped open and his eyes wide. He realized the leader's body was leaning on him and wiggled free to see it tumble to the ground from a gunshot to the head. With a frown, he turned to the others thinking one of them might have pulled the trigger.

Marko's face looked like the leader's had - mouth wide open in surprise. The others equally shocked in various forms.

It took Tony a few seconds to figure out that they weren't looking at him, but behind him. He whipped around, intending to find someone else from the leader's team.

That's when he saw him, not more than five feet away in the process of stowing away a gun.

Tony rubbed at his eyes, unsure if he was seeing it correctly. It had to be wrong he wasn't really standing there.

The man, dressed all in black, moved forward to stand in front of Tony. "Figures that asshole would live after destroying the building."

Tony gaped at him.

The man shuffled his feet, kicking up dirt around them. "I know what you're going to say, but I had to make sure you were far enough back from the crowd to take the shot. If I had the ability, I would have let you know in advance."

Tony opened his mouth but nothing came out.

The man laughed at Tony. "You mean I actually made you speechless? This is the best day ever."

Tony rolled his eyes.

The man moved closer to Tony. "I left because I was confused, but now I know that I can't escape you no matter how hard I try and maybe that's a good thing. Maybe I just need to let it happen and go from there."

Tony shook his head. "I hate you. I hated that you left and I hate that you once again saved my life."

Elias bit his lip. "You have every right to be. I'd be a fool if I expected you to run into my arms like some cheesy romance novel. I know I hurt you, and maybe you will never forgive me." He stopped to smile. "Though I am thankful for a chance to be on my own, to see the world without anything to hold me back. It's something I've never had a chance to do until now."

"What did you do for the last three months?"

"Fended for myself and slept in various hostels. Several thousand euros gets you pretty far once you find a place to convert it back into rubles. To be honest, I struggled but for some reason it felt right to do. Instead of my prison record looming over my head at every step, I had to start anew and discover how to live again." He stopped to reach out for Tony's hand, pulling him close. "The only thing missing was you. This piece of me that I never knew that needed to be filled."

Tony looked into Elias' eyes. "How do I know you won't just run off when you feel like it? I'm tired of getting my heart broken, even if most of the time it was my fault in the first place. I fall for people I can't have and they end up breaking my heart anyway. How do I know you'll stay this time?"

Elias smiled and then leaned in....

Tony pushed him back. "You didn't answer my question, Viljanen."

Elias rolled his eyes and leaned in again, getting close to hover over Tony's lips. "I'm trying to."

Tony pushed back again. "That's not good enough. A kiss is not an answer to my question."

Elias groaned and looked to the others for help.

Marko folded his arms across his chest. "Don't look at me, I'm not the one who ditched the man I love. Hell, I had to hide my feelings for him for five years until I finally got a chance to kiss him again. You're barking up the wrong tree."

Tommy and Pasi just gave him shrugs.

Henkka started to grin. "How about telling him you won't leave again unless you're able to beat Tony."

Marko laughed and said to Henkka, "That will never fucking happen."

Henkka winked at him. "Exactly my point."

Elias made a face. "I'd rather not put it on something like that. It implies that if I do I'd be able to leave. I don't want to leave again."

Henkka nodded to Tony. "Then tell that to him. I'm not the one you need to convince."

Elias looked down into Tony's eyes. "I know we've butted heads and probably said stupid things, but I believe we were meant to be with each other. It sounds cheesy and trite, though somehow I know it's true. The world at large was against us for so long in our lives, that a little bit of happiness throws it all out of whack. I want to right the ship, bring back the sunlight, and whatever other cliché metaphor you can think of. I want to be your happiness."

Tears formed in Tony's eyes. "I've never known true happiness, only glimpses of it."

"Then let me be the one to do that for you. And maybe you can for me too, if you want."

Tony hugged Elias tight, snuggling under his chin. "I've missed you. You nagging me about the house being dirty, you complaining about having to clean it, and you challenging me for a chance to beat me."

Elias made a face.

Tony chuckled, knowing what Elias was doing. "It's sad that I missed all of that annoyance over the last three months. Who knew I needed it to feel alive?"

Elias blinked at the tears in his eyes. "I missed you nagging me. There were times that I could swear I heard you telling me to get up and stop being lazy."

Tony pulled back a little. "So, are you going to kiss me or shall we continue on?"

Elias laughed. "I tried to earlier and you said no and now you want me to. Make up your mind, Kakko."

Tony winked at him. "Gotta keep you on your toes, Viljanen."

Elias rolled his eyes and leaned down....

"I think I changed my mind."

Elias kept moving in and said on Tony's lips, "It's too late to protest."

Tommy and Marko rolled their eyes in unison. Henkka and Pasi just grinned at it.

While they continued to kiss, the others took to dragging their former leader's body out of town to toss into the tall grass. No one would know who he was, nor care at this point.

Just as they planned.

********


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elias finally gets his chance to beat Tony in a fight. Will Tony be defeated or does Elias have something else up his sleeve?

Six months later Tony and Elias eyed each other from across the fighting ring they'd set up in the basement.

Tony donned a black tank top and red shorts, while Elias wore blue shorts and no shirt.

Marko stood in the middle of the ring and looked between the two men. "In this fight, anything goes. Though if you go out of your way to permanently harm each other, I will end this fight and beat the shit out of the one trying it. Do I make myself clear?"

Tony nodded. "Trust me, I have no intention of hurting Elias save for a few pulled muscles from him falling to the ground repeatedly. Any more than that and I wouldn't be able to play with him later."

Henkka snickered off to the side.

Marko glared at him and then turned to Elias. "And you?"

"That's the last thing I want, especially if it means you'll be beating the crap out of me later. I value my life too much for that. Besides, this won't last long enough for serious injuries anyway."

Tony's eyebrow rose. "Is that so? What makes you so confident against me? So far, you haven't been able to get a punch in."

Elias grinned. "I've been training up with Marko. I believe I can successfully take you on."

Tony glanced over at Marko. "He's actually beat you?"

"Hell no he hasn't, but he has gotten a lot better. He's anticipating more and dodging attacks."

"Good to know, I'll keep that in mind. Though if you can't beat Marko what makes you think you can with me?"

Elias grinned harder. "I have a secret weapon now."

Marko glared at Elias. "Weapons are not allowed in this fight."

"I was being metaphoric. I know what Tony's weakness is and I will use it to push him out of place so I can get my punch in."

Marko looked over at Tony and got a shrug for a reaction. He left the ring and put his hand out. "Begin!"

Tony watched Elias moved into a martial pose to mirror Tony's. He waited until Elias made his first move.

Except Elias just stood there in his pose unmoving.

Tony blinked at it. "You do know we're fighting, right?"

Elias smiled. "Yes, I'm waiting for you to make the first move."

"And when the hell have I ever done that? I'm waiting for you to make the first move."

Marko barked at them from beside Henkka, "If no one moves, I'll get in there to make you move!"

Tony moved closer to Elias, his eyes never leaving Elias' body. "This is your grand plan? It's pretty dull to be honest."

"I haven't begun yet. This is me trying to unnerve you."

Tony advanced at Elias at full force.

Elias grinned and held his ground, waiting for Tony to get there.

Henkka bugged Marko to intercede as it looked like Tony was going to knock Elias out going that speed, but Marko ignored him.

Elias pulled something out of his pants to stop Tony dead in his tracks.

Tony gaped at the package in Elias' hands. Before he had the chance to exclaim what it was, Elias hit Tony's arm. He stared down at it in confusion.

Marko groaned and covered his face with both hands. Henkka doubled over, laughing hard enough to shake his chubby form.

"That didn't count," said Tony, snatching the package out of Elias' hands and heading out of the ring.

Elias laughed. "Yes, it does! If you can distract me with a smile several years ago, then I can distract you with Fazer chocolate."

Tony moaned when he stuffed a piece of it into his mouth. "Russia has nothing on Finnish chocolate."

Marko grabbed Elias' arm when he walked out of the ring. "Explain to me why you even needed me down here to make a mockery out of fighting?"

Elias motioned to Tony. "He would of have known something was up if I hadn't."

Tony nodded, eating another piece of chocolate and speaking with his mouth full, "He does have a point."

Marko stomped away, grumbling about being surrounded by idiots.

Henkka grinned at Elias. "I for one thought it was hilarious. I missed out seeing Tony do that earlier attempt, but I'm glad I saw this one. Now we can cure all of Tony's asshole behaviors with chocolate."

Tony flipped Henkka off and went back to his chocolate bar.

Elias laughed and shuffled over to Tony. "Are you going to save me some?"

"With a cheap trick like that? Not on your life."

Elias wrapped his arms around Tony's middle to hold him close. "Even if I begged?"

Tony's eyebrow rose as he put another piece of chocolate in his mouth. "I'd pay to see that."

"Would you now?"

Tony wiggled his eyebrows and ate another piece of chocolate.

Elias swooped in to capture Tony's lips, tasting the rich chocolate on them. Tony moaned around the kiss, snuggling into Elias' arms and kissing back. Their tongues fought over the last morsel of chocolate slowly melting in Tony's mouth.

Tony pulled back when heard a buzz nearby. He glanced around the room with a frown. "Do you hear that?"

Elias shrugged at him. "Hear what?"

Tony wiggled out of Elias' arms and searched the area until he stopped short in front of the washing machine.

There on top was a small cellphone buzzing.

Tony picked up the cell phone and looked at the small display. He gaped at it.

Elias shuffled over to Tony's position. "What is it?"

Tony turned the phone around so Elias could see it.

Elias tilted his head to the side. "Is that three dots? What kind of message is that?"

Tony backed away from Elias. "This can't be. There's no way that's possible."

"What is it? Is there something I should know about three dots?"

Tony turned to look Elias in the eyes. "That's what I sent Henkka to trigger the program to erase our records. Why is it appearing on the phone now?"

Elias was about to say something when he heard laughter upstairs. He pointed to it, "I have a feeling they're playing a joke on us."

Tony grit his teeth, storming up the basement stairs and out the door. "Ok, you assholes who set this up?"

Tommy glanced up at Tony. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Tony walked further into the room and stopped short at the scene in the middle of the room involving Henkka and Marko.

Tommy laughed at Tony's shocked expression. "It was a dare. Apparently, Henkka is more agile than we thought."

Tony blinked as they twisted around each other like an odd form of wrestling. He turned back to Tommy, "Whatever, but that doesn't explain this bullshit. Who the hell sent three dots to the data phone?"

Marko and Henkka froze in place. Pasi gaped in the kitchen with Marksson and Malainen.

Tommy scrambled off the couch and snatched the phone out of Tony's hands. "How is that possible? Are we being trolled by someone?"

Marksson typed something into his laptop. "Let me check something. You created a virus, right? One that ate our files?"

Tony nodded. "Yes, and then ate the files via the satellite connections when Tommy linked them. Hence how our records are completely obliterated now."

Malainen blinked at the advanced stuff Marksson was pulling up. "Whoa, what the hell is that?"

Marksson shook his head. "I don't know, but if the virus somehow mutated and got access to the internet, then it might have evolved."

Tony glanced over at Tommy. "Is that possible from a simple program?"

Henkka got up from the ground. "It wasn't a simple program though, eating our data from everywhere. Not to mention we didn't account for where it would go after it finished. Marksson could be right that it evolved somehow, but that doesn't explain the phone."

Tommy backed away from Tony. "Yes, it does. Tony triggered it from this. Sure Henkka launched the actual program and but the phone might have been read by some other system like a camera. Maybe it assembled everything together and cycling back."

Elias looked between them. "Cycling back for what?"

Marksson stopped typing and pointed at his screen. "For the next instructions. It's gone through all of the systems and erased everything, so it's like any other computer program - waiting for the next set of inputs."

Tommy glanced down at the phone in his hands. "How do we answer it? With another three dots?"

Elias took the phone out of Tommy's hands and tossed it in the garbage can.

All of them stared at him in shock.

Elias shrugged. "What does it matter? If it's already completed its job, then it's over. There's nothing to do about it."

Marksson looked back at his laptop. "Maybe, but it can also undo what you did if we don't answer it."

Malainen pointed to Marksson's screen. "Try disabling it from there. Or at least setting it loose somewhere else to live out its days."

Tony grinned and shuffled over to Marksson. "Let me try something with it."

Marksson got up from his seat at the kitchen table for Tony to sit down. He watched Tony type in all sorts of commands in rapid-fire succession.

Tommy wandered over to peer over Tony's shoulder. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Just an idea I had. We're gone from everywhere, but that doesn't mean we can't still cause havoc on a smaller scale. Remember those bank accounts I siphoned money from in order to buy this house?"

"Yeah, I do. Aren't they closed by now?"

Tony nodded without looking up from the screen. "Probably, but there's plenty of others that people like Stefano Elgante and Dario Flemente that are left untouched. What if we were to siphon monies from those types of people and spread it out into hundreds of different bank accounts over the course of several years. We could live like kings for the rest of our lives."

Marksson shook his head. "They'd track us eventually with something that obvious."

Tony grinned. "True, but what if it weren't nearly as obvious as in taking pennies from their savings via interest payments. No one looks at those numbers every single day, considering they fluctuate over time."

Henkka laughed. "That's brilliant actually. Though are you just targeting any bank account or just those two?"

"The funny thing about terrorists and sex slavery owners is that most seem to have their accounts in the same offshore bank. No idea why all of them are that stupid, but if I can pull this off all of those assholes we used to follow are about to lose some of their livelihood."

Tommy smiled. "I have another idea if that doesn't work out. Remember that database we almost got into like three years ago? The one where it listed damn near every sex slave and hostage in the world? It figured out my access too fast for me to do any damage but this thing could easily fuck it up."

"Actually I don't even need to do that, I can just have it do both at once. It has evolved so much that it's massive now and able to do trillions of calculations every nanosecond. I just need to give it something else to do while it's siphoning the money. If I remember straight, that database was located somewhere hidden on the web. Do you remember anything else about it?"

Henkka said, "Actually the best way to get to it was via one of those sex slave recruiting websites. You know those creepy things with kiddy porn on them. I believe that's how we found it originally."

Tony typed in some instructions for the program to access all websites like that and to go into the backside of them to access the database. "It might take some time, but it will eventually find it. Though in the meantime it's going to crash every single one of those websites and any others connected to them."

Marksson shrugged. "But they'll repair them eventually. This doesn't fix anything."

"No, not unless they can stop our program which isn't likely at this point. Not even we can stop it. It's going to obliterate them so much that they won't even find anything left. All of the files, all of the text, all of the links are going to disappear. They won't be able to fix them because the program will also monitor the website to see if anything changes."

Elias rolled his eyes and headed for the door. "Whatever, I'm going outside for a walk. I don't understand any of this gobbledygook."

Tony chuckled and finished typing the instructions. "You don't have to understand it, but it will make the lives of those who gave us hell a little more painful. Honestly, that's the best part. Screw those who killed so many of our young recruits like Jani."

Tommy glanced away, memories of Jani filling his head. The idea of Jani finally avenged after being blown up made something inside Tommy unclench and relaxed for the first time in years.

It was finally over.


End file.
